UK Research & Innovation: UKRI-2434 SemiProbe PS4L FA12 Probe Station

UK-Swindon: Probes.

Section I: Contracting Authority

   I.1) Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
       UK Research & Innovation
       https://www.ukri.org/, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1FL, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 1793867000, Email: Elizabeth.Gage@ukri.org
       Contact: Elizabeth Gage
       Main Address: https://www.ukri.org/
       NUTS Code: UK

   I.2) Joint procurement:
      The contract involves joint procurement: No          
      In the case of joint procurement involving different countries, state applicable national procurement law: Not Provided
      The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body: Yes

   I.4)Type of the contracting authority:
      Body governed by public law

   I.5) Main activity:
      Other activity: Research

Section II: Object Of The Contract

   II.1) Scope of the procurement

      II.1.1) Title: UKRI-2434 SemiProbe PS4L FA12 Probe Station            
      Reference number: UKRI-2434

      II.1.2) Main CPV code:
         33141641 - Probes.


      II.1.3) Type of contract: SUPPLIES

      II.1.4) Short description: The ATLAS UK ITk community presently uses a semi-automatic probe station, located at RAL, to test wafers of Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) used in production of the ITk Strip detector. Approximately 250 wafers remain to be tested over the course of the next year. The maximum throughput of this system is approximately two wafers per day, and this requires working times to be staggered such that one wafer may be loaded in the morning, and one in the early evening. Just as the Strip work starts to wind down, deliveries of Pixel wafers will begin, potentially another two years of work.

We wish to reduce the effort burden associated with this process by moving to a fully automatic system, capable of running unattended wafer tests for a batch of up to 50 wafers. As the system will now be able to process wafers 24/7, throughput will be increased by 80%.

      II.1.6) Information about lots
         This contract is divided into lots: No
            
      II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
          Value: 399,905.6
                  
         Currency:USD            

   II.2) Description

      II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s):
      Not Provided

      II.2.3) Place of performance
      Nuts code:
      UK - UNITED KINGDOM
   
      Main site or place of performance:
      UNITED KINGDOM
             

      II.2.4) Description of the procurement: We wish to improve the efficiency and throughput of our wafer test processes by purchasing a fully automatic probe station, in which an automated arm can execute the wafer loading procedure unattended, facilitating wafer tests 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

      II.2.5) Award criteria:
                  
      Price - Weighting: 100
            

      II.2.11) Information about options
         Options: No
         

      II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
         The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
         

      II.2.14) Additional information: Not Provided


Section IV: Procedure

IV.1) Description

   IV.1.1)Type of procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below (please complete Annex D1)


   IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
      The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement: No       
      

   IV.1.6) Information about electronic auction
      An electronic auction has been used: No

   IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
      The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

IV.2) Administrative information

   IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
       Not Provided
   

   IV.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice
      The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice: No

Section V: Award of contract

Award Of Contract (No.1)

   Contract No: Not Provided    
   Lot Number: Not Provided    
   Title: Not Provided

   A contract/lot is awarded: Yes


   V.2) Award of contract

      V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract: 16/09/2022

      V.2.2) Information about tenders
         Number of tenders received: 1
         Number of tenders received from SMEs: Not Provided          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: Not Provided          
         Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: Not Provided          
         Number of tenders received by electronic means: Not Provided

      V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

      The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
         
         Contractor (No.1)
             Inseto (UK) Ltd, 02096377
             Focus 303 Business Centre, Andover, SP10 5NY, United Kingdom
             Tel. +44 1264334505
             NUTS Code: UK
            The contractor is an SME: No

      V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
         Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: Not Provided          
         Total value of the contract/lot: 399,905.6
         Currency: USD

      V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
         The contract is likely to be subcontracted: No
         
Section VI: Complementary information

   VI.3) Additional information: Procurement Contract Transparency Data: Redacted contract documents will be made available within the next 30 days on the UKRI website at: https://www.ukri.org/about-us/procurement-contract-transparency-data/ ​
To view this notice, please click here:
https://ukri.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=722683978

   VI.4) Procedures for review

      VI.4.1) Review body
          UK Research and Innovation
          https://www.ukri.org/, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1FL, United Kingdom
          Email: Elizabeth.Gage@ukri.org
          Internet address: https://www.ukri.org/

      VI.4.3) Review procedure
         Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures: Not Provided

      VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
         Not Provided

   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 23/09/2022




ANNEX D

   1. Justification for the choice of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a call for competition in accordance with Article 32 of Directive 2014/24/EU

      No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to: Not Provided

      The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the directive (for supplies only): No       
      
      The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: absence of competition for technical reasons

      Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

      Additional deliveries by the original supplier ordered under the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

      
      
      Procurement of supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market: No

      Purchase of supplies or services on particularly advantageous terms: No


   3. Explanation
          There are multiple technical reasons, firstly -SemiProbe systems present a common programming interface to the companion data acquisition systems used to run the wafer tests, facilitating the easy transfer of projects between the two systems according to demand. Secondly as SemiProbe systems share a common user interface, meaning that operators need only be trained on one machine. Lastly, the modular approach of the SemiProbe company means that they are able to offer extended support for their products.