- Value
- £475k
- Closes
- 20 Nov 2026 (12 days)
- Where
- UK-wide
- Lots
- 1
- Suitable for SMEs
- Not stated
- Contract
- 28 Dec 2026 – 28 Dec 2029
In plain English
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) wants to buy a cell sorter to replace its existing Aria Cell Sorter, with maintenance and any specialist consumables and extra equipment needed. The contract runs from 28 December 2026 to 28 December 2029, with an estimated value of £475,000, and bids close on 20 November 2026 at 10:00.
Good fit for: Suppliers of laboratory cell sorting equipment (flow cytometry) that can also provide servicing and consumables.
Written with AI from the official notice. Check the notice before relying on it.
What the buyer says
The Agency is looking to purchase a Cell Sorter as a replacement for Aria Cell Sorter (s/n P64828200097). This will include the purchase and maintenance of bespoke consumables and auxiliary equipment, if applicable. This cell sorter will support a number of projects such as Cancer Genomics, CAR-T cells, nanobody production, immune cell expansion, stem cells isolations, microbiome strain isolations. It will be required to isolate specific cell populations (e.g. transfected cells or cells with a specific phenotype) or allow clonal expansion of cells or feed into single cell sequencing pipelines if pre-isolation of cells is required.
Getting the documents
health-family.force.com/s/Welcome (linked from the notice).
Procedure: Open procedure (Open: anyone can bid, in one stage). Published 22 Oct 2026.
What similar contracts went for
Similar contracts went for £168k to £535k (4 since 2025; 1 won by small firms).
| Contract | Won by | Value | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| BD FACSDiscover S8 Spectral Cell Sorter with CellView Imaging Technology University Of Edinburgh | Becton Dickinson UK Limited | £535k | 9 Sep |
| Cytek Aurora Cell Sorter - IRR University Of Edinburgh | Name withheld | £384k | 8 Oct |
| School of Biology: Cell Sorter University of St Andrews | Name withheld SME | £168k | 21 Apr |
| Cell Sorter for Biological Sciences University of Southampton | Life Technologies Limited | £532k | 4 Apr |
From the award notices on Find a Tender and Public Contracts Scotland. Values are as each notice states them and cover the contract's whole term: most notices give the value before VAT, but about one in seven gives only a figure including VAT. AI picked these as the same kind of work and can be wrong, so check what each one included before you price.
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