Official UK procurement notice
White FEG SEM · UK public procurement notice
Authority: AWE PLC
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionAWE is seeking to procure a Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscope (FEG-SEM) to replace an existing instrument. The capability provides analyses of a wide range of material types, including metals, glasses, ceramics and polymers.
- How the procedure runs: This procurement will be run as a two-part (three staged) Competitive Flexible Procedure procurement, per Regulation 20 of the Procurement Act 2023. Part one is the Invitation to Participate (ITP) Stage. The ITP is to enable Suppliers to complete and submit the ITP Response Questionnaire (ITP Submission). ITP Submissions will be used to determine Suppliers' suitability for this requirement in terms of legal and financial capacity and technical ability. Following assessment of Suppliers' ITP Submissions, AWE will invite the top 5 scoring Suppliers to proceed to the next stage. Part two is the Invitation to Submit First and Only Tenders (ITSFOT), and is split into two stages. The ITSFOT is to enable Suppliers to submit a Tender and for AWE to evaluate and score the responses to identify its preferred supplier for this requirement. Part two stage 1 consists of the ITSFOT written submissions from Suppliers. Technical, quality, social value, and commercial elements are assessed at this stage 1. Part two stage 2 consists of the ITSFOT demonstration submissions from Suppliers. The purpose of the demonstrations is to provide Suppliers the opportunity to demonstrate their solution to a panel of technical evaluators, focusing on how the bidder proposes to deliver the service and specification of goods required by AWE. Following assessment of Suppliers' ITSFOT stage 2 submissions, AWE will seek to award the contract to the Supplier whose overall ITSFOT submission has been assessed as having scored the highest. It is anticipated the draft contract included in the ITSFOT document pack will be used unamended and in its entirety at contract award. However, within the rules of this procurement Suppliers are permitted to 'redline' certain stated areas of the contract that they state would require non-material amendments to enable a mutually beneficial contract award.
CPV: Microscopes
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1CancelledRenewalPublished value£800,000
- Condition of participationshortlisting
As detailed in the Tender Pack
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (6)
- Quality: 2%
- ESH: 2%
- Technical: 40%
- Product Demonstration: 16%
- Price: 30%
- Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (6)
- Quality
- ESH
- Technical
- Price
- Social Value
- Product Demonstration
- Condition of participationshortlisting
As detailed in the Tender Pack
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Cancelled
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 14 Aug 2025, 16:01 BST
- Last source update
- 23 Mar 2026, 12:18 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 13 Jan 2026
- Authority reference
AWE01956- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-048867- Latest notice
- Procurement termination notice (UK12)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-058832Find a Tender
- How it runs
This procurement will be run as a two-part (three staged) Competitive Flexible Procedure procurement, per Regulation 20 of the Procurement Act 2023.
Part one is the Invitation to Participate (ITP) Stage. The ITP is to enable Suppliers to complete and submit the ITP Response Questionnaire (ITP Submission). ITP Submissions will be used to determine Suppliers' suitability for this requirement in terms of legal and financial capacity and technical ability. Following assessment of Suppliers' ITP Submissions, AWE will invite the top 5 scoring Suppliers to proceed to the next stage.
Part two is the Invitation to Submit First and Only Tenders (ITSFOT), and is split into two stages. The ITSFOT is to enable Suppliers to submit a Tender and for AWE to evaluate and score the responses to identify its preferred supplier for this requirement.
Part two stage 1 consists of the ITSFOT written submissions from Suppliers. Technical, quality, social value, and commercial elements are assessed at this stage 1.
Part two stage 2 consists of the ITSFOT demonstration submissions from Suppliers. The purpose of the demonstrations is to provide Suppliers the opportunity to demonstrate their solution to a panel of technical evaluators, focusing on how the bidder proposes to deliver the service and specification of goods required by AWE.
Following assessment of Suppliers' ITSFOT stage 2 submissions, AWE will seek to award the contract to the Supplier whose overall ITSFOT submission has been assessed as having scored the highest.
It is anticipated the draft contract included in the ITSFOT document pack will be used unamended and in its entirety at contract award. However, within the rules of this procurement Suppliers are permitted to 'redline' certain stated areas of the contract that they state would require non-material amendments to enable a mutually beneficial contract award.
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 15 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline
- 15 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 26 Aug 2025, 12:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Not allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
14 Aug 2025 → 23 Mar 2026 · 6 dates- Tender notice published14 Aug 2025, 16:01 BST
- Clarification questions by26 Aug 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline15 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by286 days ago13 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts270 days ago30 Jan 2026
- Latest notice published217 days ago23 Mar 2026, 12:18 GMT
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 Aug 2025- Tender notice published14 Aug 2025, 16:01 BSTUK4
- Procurement termination notice published23 Mar 2026, 12:18 GMTUK12
- Status changed to cancelled23 Mar 2026, 12:18 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| supplier not published | — | 10 Mar 2026 | Cancelled |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specificationsAccess: By email request to RDME.Procurement@awe.co.uk
Notices published for this procedure
- Procurement termination notice Procurement termination notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender