Laboratory, optical & precision equipment tenders in the UK

We track 435 awarded laboratory, optical & precision equipment contracts (CPV 38*) in the UK. 79 of them have a published end date between 7 Jan 2027 and 7 Apr 2028. The median published award value is £92k, and half of awards fall between £37k and £311k (431 awards with a value). 88 award notices in this category did not publish an end date.

Ending in 3-18 months79

Open tenders22

Median award£92k

Contracts tracked435

Contracts ending soonest (10 of 79)

Contract	Buyer	Incumbent supplier(s)	Value	Ends	Region
Purchase of criticality lockets Find a Tender · CPV 38527200	Sellafield Limited	Nuvia Ltd	£70k	28 Jan 2027 re-tender may already be under way	North West
Gamma Spec Directive X Find a Tender · CPV 38944000	Sellafield Limited	AMETEK (GB) Limited	£261k	2 Feb 2027 re-tender may already be under way	North West
Purchase of custom racks and software for an existing platform Find a Tender · CPV 38000000	MHRA	HTZ Ltd	£28k	5 Feb 2027 re-tender may already be under way	London
AV Methane Survey Find a Tender · CPV 38296000	Natural Resources Wales	GHGSat UK Ltd	£61k	4 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	Wales
Additional Tree Mapping Data - Epping Forest 2026 Find a Tender · CPV 38221000	National Highways Limited	BLUESKY INTERNATIONAL LIMITED	£1,180	14 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	UK-wide
CEFAS25-128 The Supply of a Light Stereo Microscope for Blue Belt St Helena call-off Contracts Finder · CPV 38000000	Cefas	Evident Europe GmbH – UK Branch	£10k	19 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	East of England
C33109 - Supply of Immunohistochemistry Pre-Treatment Module call-off Contracts Finder · CPV 38000000	Animal and Plant Health Agency	Fisher Scientific UK LTD	£14k	22 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	UK-wide
Habitable Worlds Observatory Detector Find a Tender · CPV 38000000	The Open University	Teledyne UK Limited	£585k	31 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	South East
UKRI-6292 High-resolution mass spectrometer system Find a Tender · CPV 38433100	UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)	AB SCIEX UK Limited	£464k	31 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	East of England
UKRI-6090 R5560 ADCs for the WISH Instrument at ISIS Find a Tender · CPV 38430000	UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)	Costruzioni Apparecchiature Elettroniche Nucleari C.A.E.N. S.p.A.	£450k	31 Mar 2027 re-tender may already be under way	South East

See all 79 in the renewal radar

Open tenders (10 of 22)

Opportunity	Buyer	Value	Deadline	Region
LiBRTI Diagnostics Find a Tender · CPV 38341000	UK Atomic Energy Authority	£500k	7 Oct 2026, 11:00	South East
MVDC - Parking Pay Terminals Find a Tender · CPV 38730000	Mole Valley District Council	£315k	8 Oct 2026, 12:00	South East
PHW-ITT-63328 Provision of Microbiological Safety Cabinets Find a Tender · CPV 38000000	Public Health Wales NHS Trust	£122k	9 Oct 2026, 12:00	Wales
Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) for asbestos analysis Find a Tender · CPV 38000000	Health and Safety Executive	£400k	9 Oct 2026, 13:00	UK-wide
BU322026-Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope Find a Tender · CPV 38510000	Prifysgol Bangor / Bangor University	£437k	9 Oct 2026, 17:00	Wales
Air Quality Monitoring System for Granville Landfill Find a Tender · CPV 38344000	Borough of Telford & Wrekin	value not published	12 Oct 2026, 12:00	West Midlands
Laboratory Equipment and Maintenance Services Framework – Lots 1 and 2 Find a Tender · CPV 38000000	United Utilities Water Limited	£20.8m	12 Oct 2026, 17:00	UK-wide
NSpOC: Sovereign Sensor - Active RF Radar Capability Find a Tender · CPV 38115100	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology	£25.0m	15 Oct 2026, 12:00 expression of interest	London
Provision of replacement Industrial & Commercial Customer Metering Equipment in connection with a Gas Distribution Network '27 Find a Tender · CPV 38420000	Phoenix Energy Group Ltd	£400k	15 Oct 2026, 12:00 expression of interest	Northern Ireland
Flow cryometer with cell sorting capability Find a Tender · CPV 38000000	NPL Management Limited	£250k	15 Oct 2026, 17:00	UK-wide

All open tenders in this category

Expiring by quarter

Q1 2027 (24)Q2 2027 (16)Q3 2027 (25)Q4 2027 (11)Q1 2028 (5)Q2 2028 (4)

By region

Region	Contracts	Ending in window
South East	57	14
London	57	9
South West	46	8
Scotland	24	0
West Midlands	22	5
East of England	22	7
Yorkshire and the Humber	20	5
North West	16	5
North East	15	2
East Midlands	10	4
Wales	7	2
Northern Ireland	6	1

Top buyers

Buyer	Contracts	Value
UK Research & Innovation	51	£12.0m
NPL Management Limited	46	£54.5m
UK Health Security Agency	24	£8.1m
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)	19	£3.9m
UK SHARED BUSINESS SERVICES LIMITED	16	£309k
ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH AGENCY	13	£1.1m
University Of Edinburgh	10	£5.4m
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care acting as part of the Crown through UK Health Security Agency	10	£993k
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory	9	£651k
DIAMOND LIGHT SOURCE LIMITED	8	£5.1m

Most frequent incumbents

Supplier	Contracts	Value
CARL ZEISS LTD	7	£80.0m
Nikon UK	7	£80.0m
BRUKER UK LIMITED	7	£33.2m
Cairn Research Ltd	6	£70.0m
Photon Lines Ltd	6	£70.0m
Evident Europe GmbH – UK Branch	6	£60.0m
Fisher Scientific UK	6	£51.0m
Appleton Woods Ltd	5	£50.1m
GT Vision Ltd	5	£50.0m
Photonic Solutions Ltd	5	£34.9m

Sub-categories

Instruments for checking physical characteristics (94)Checking and testing apparatus (68)Optical instruments (47)Measuring instruments (21)Miscellaneous evaluation or testing instruments (20)Time registers and the like; parking meters (10)

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder; updated every 2 hours. Where a notice doesn't publish a contract end date we show "end date not published" - we never guess.