Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew intends to award a contract for the provision of a custom-built phenoTest 3D X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging platform to support the ARIA-funded SPEED project. The contract will include delivery, installation, commissioning, software licences, maintenance, calibration, technical support and training. The platform will be used to measure dynamic seed and seedling traits at individual-seed level using non-destructive longitudinal 3D X-ray CT imaging. The requirement includes access to the associated proprietary hardware, software, algorithms and processing workflows necessary to generate and analyse the required research data. The supplier will retain ownership of the equipment. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew will receive operational access to the platform and the associated rights required to use the system for project purposes. Delivery, installation and commissioning are required in sufficient time to support project milestones, with installation planned at Wakehurst, West Sussex, United Kingdom.

Procurement Act 2023

Direct award Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew intends to award this contract directly to PhenoKey B.V. under section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023. The authority considers that the direct award justification relating to intellectual property and exclusive rights applies because the requirement depends upon patented and licensed technology that can only be supplied through PhenoKey B.V. Evidence obtained by the authority confirms that the required solution relies upon protected methods, proprietary software, algorithms and associated intellectual property rights that are necessary to deliver the required functionality. The authority has concluded that no other supplier can lawfully provide access to the required combination of technology, licences and associated services. The authority also considers that the direct award justification relating to technical reasons applies because only PhenoKey B.V. can provide the required phenoTest 3D X-ray computed tomography platform and there are no reasonable alternatives. The requirement includes non-destructive longitudinal phenotyping of individual seeds and seedlings, integration of proprietary hardware and software, and compatibility with previous Kew research. The platform has been validated for the species required by the project and is required to generate comparable research outputs within the project timescales. Alternative suppliers, products and methods would not provide the required combination of technical capability, validated performance, intellectual property access and research comparability. The authority considers that the exclusivity arises from third-party intellectual property rights and essential technical requirements rather than from any artificial narrowing of the specification. Supporting patent, licensing, technical and no-reasonable-alternatives evidence is retained on the procurement file.