GB-LONDON: RBGKEW1334 Freeze-drying centrifugal evaporator 

Summary and background

The Biochemistry Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) has a requirement to increase its capacity to dry numerous samples in common organic or aqueous solvents (typically 1 - 10 ml volume range) as part of several research workflows studying the metabolites of plants and fungi. The lab currently has one centrifugal evaporator to perform this task, which is proving insufficient and resulting in sample drying becoming a bottleneck in workflows. It is also not able to support new workflows requiring (1) samples in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to be dried and (2) batches of samples in water or water/organic mixtures (e.g. high-performance liquid chromatography fractions) to be freeze dried.

Additional information: The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.