University of Calgary - Advanced Contract Award Notice / Notice of Proposed Procurement - High-Performance Fully Integrated Digital Microscope

The University of Calgary (UCalgary) intends to purchase the VHX-X1 digital microscope with the VHX-7100 fully integrated camera and lens head and accessories from Keyence Canada Inc. The Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (MME) requires an advanced imaging system to support multiple faculty teams working across aerospace, materials science, and advanced manufacturing. To the department’s knowledge, no alternative suppliers or platforms offer this level of integration – combining the controller, high-resolution camera, and fully motorized XYZ stage into a single calibrated system that supports shared-use, high-throughput metallographic imaging and quantitative surface metrology in a multi-user environment. Based on the department’s technical assessment and market review, the Keyence system is the only known platform capable of meeting the specific research and operational requirements.