Finland – Wide field microscopes – Upgrade to an existing widefield microscope

The University of Turku / Turku Bioscience Centre intends to procure an upgrade to an existing widefield microscope. The purchase is funded by Research Council of Finland, FIRI-grant 26081267. The existing Nikon Ti2-based microscope system was originally purchased following an EU-wide tendering process: HILMA 2016-0016596, TED 2016/S 120-212960. The current procurement concerns a technical upgrade to this existing microscope platform, not the purchase of a new standalone system. The intended Nikon iLas2 upgrade will provide the additional functionalities required to expand the existing microscope into a system capable of advanced TIRF imaging, FRAP, and photomanipulation. These capabilities are essential for the planned smart microscopy workflows at the Turku Bioscience Centre Microscopy Facility. The key technical requirement is that the upgrade must be seamlessly integrated into the existing Nikon Eclipse Ti2 microscope and controlled through Nikon NIS-Elements software. This integration is essential because the microscope is used for automated and adaptive imaging workflows based on NIS-Elements JOBS. The planned smart microscopy pipelines require coordinated control of the microscope hardware, TIRF illumination angle, laser lines, photomanipulation/FRAP module, camera acquisition, filter wheels, and existing data acquisition hardware within a single software environment. Alternative systems that are not fully integrated into Nikon NIS-Elements, or that are not fully compatible with NIS-Elements JOBS, would not meet the technical requirements of the procurement. Such alternatives would compromise the ability to run automated smart microscopy workflows in TIRF mode and would create incompatibilities with the existing microscope platform, software environment, and established imaging pipelines. Therefore, replacing the intended Nikon upgrade with components from another manufacturer or supplier would not constitute a reasonable substitute solution. BergmanLabora AB is the sole representative of Nikon Europe B.V. in Finland, and as such is the only distributor with the right to distribute, market and sell Nikon microscopes within the jurisdiction of Finland. There are no other parties appointed by Nikon or otherwise authorized to sell Nikon microscopes in this territory. As such, BergmanLabora AB is also the only distributor authorized to deliver said upgrade in Finland. According to the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts (1397/2016) section 40 when only a certain supplier can implement the procurement for a technical reason, or for a reason related to protecting an exclusive right, provided also that there are no reasonable alternatives or substitute solutions and that the absence of competition is not due to an artificial narrowing of the terms and conditions of the procurement, the contract may be awarded only to a particular supplier, contracting authorities may award public contracts by a direct award. Prior to making decision the contracting authority has inspected the relevant markets and available products and after careful consideration found its' conclusion grounded.