The contract involves the supply of consumables, provision of maintenance services (including diagnostics, Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM), and fault fixing), and the purchase of two additional water purification stations to integrate with the current system and maintenance contract.

Natural Resources Wales Analytical Services (NRWAS) at Swansea University is an analytical laboratory testing samples taken from sites across Wales. NRWAS provide high quality environmental testing and analysis by professional and experienced staff operating to the highest industry standard; accredited by UKAS, the national accreditation body for the United Kingdom to ISO/IEC 17025:2005. The analysis conducted at NRWAS is Inorganic chemistry, Metals analysis, Organic chemistry, and Microbiological analysis. The testing is conducted as part of the Welsh Government’s statutory obligations set out in the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD); specifically achieving prescribed environmental quality standards listed in Directives 2008/105/EC, 2013/39 and 2015/495.

De-ionised and ultrapure water is essential in analytical laboratories. Purification removes contaminants that may interfere with testing processes. Purified water is used in many ways in water quality testing laboratories for instance to make analytical reagents, to rinse glassware and to make agar for microbiological applications. NRW Analytical Services requires ultrapure water for testing water quality samples collected by NRW.

The specialised water purification system procured by NRWAS in 2020 for their laboratory at Swansea University, was supplied by Merck Life Science and is currently serviced and maintained by the supplier. The service contract was included as part of the procurement of the new system which has now expired. This procurement is for a support and maintenance contract for the existing water purification system for the next 4 years.