Autoclave Moulding Facility

Description

The University of Bristol BCI has secured £250,000 of funding to procure a High Temperature (upto 450 °C) Autoclave Moulding Facility for Thermoset and Thermoplastic polymer matrix Composites within the BCI Bristol Composites Institute (BCI), established in March 2017, is building on the expertise and 10-year track record of the Advanced Composites Collaboration for Innovation and Science (ACCIS). We bring together composite's activities across the University of Bristol (UOB); based in the Faculty of Engineering and linking to the Faculties of Science and Health Sciences. The BCI are seeking to inform the market and enter into early market engagement for the procurement of a High Temperature Autoclave Moulding Facility, with ports and suitable for a variety of instrumentation as well as the addition of resin lines. The facility will be used for thermosetting materials that will have a maximum temperature of 250°C and thermoplastic research, with a maximum temperature of 450°C. The facility must have an advanced control and data logging system which can integrate with any instrumentation and the computing/network facilities available at UoB. The BCI plan to run a competition in the new year, with the intention to award a contract by July 2023 which must be delivered, installed, commissioned and ready for use in the BCI laboratory, Queen's Building within 12 months of the contract start date. The University would like to invite interested providers to a site-visit and market engagement session to give you a greater understating of our needs, potential challenges in delivery and to help us to better understand the current market . Sessions will involve a site-visit and will be held on Weds 11th Jan and Weds 18th Jan, strictly by invitation only. Sessions will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. For further information and to book your place on one of the sessions, please contact Procurement (email: purchasing-office@bristol.ac.uk). Additional information: This notice is to advertise the University's intention to undertake soft market testing related to the new Autoclave Moulding Facility. This notice is not a call for competition to procure any services, supplies or works for the University. The University is not obliged to follow up the soft market testing in any way or with any interested parties and it is not liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any party. Following the soft market testing, the University may terminate the process and conclude the procurement by other means. Interested parties will not be prejudiced by any response or failure to respond to the market testing. A response to the market testing does not guarantee any invitation to participate in this soft market testing exercise or any future public procurement process. Any procurement of any contract by the University will be carried out in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Contracting Authority intends to use an eTendering system in this procurement exercise and reserves the right to use a reverse auction. The University of Bristol Terms and Conditions of this Contract may be requested by contacting purchasing-office@bristol.ac.uk. There will not be any negotiations on any of the substantive terms of the tender documents, including the Conditions of Contract. In issuing this PIN and seeking to notify the market. The University makes no commitment to undertake these procurements. Non-participation by economic operators will not be taken into account in any future procurement activities and will not preclude and/or prejudice any economic operator from tendering for the provision of these goods and services.