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Awards 2024

Sellafield starts £3bn hunt for key infrastructure quartet

Sellafield has fired the starting gun on the race to find four top-level key infrastructure partners as part of the ongoing procurement shake-up at the nuclear decommissioning site.

Procurement chiefs aim to replace the present Infrastructure Services Alliance with Morgan Sindall and Arup with a new overseeing team.

The organisational shake-up will see a new overall strategic partner appointed. This firm will be supported by three key delivery partners covering specific electrical distribution, utilities, and civils disciplines.

Firms selected for the new Infrastructure Delivery Partnership will oversee a £2bn-3bn programme of projects at the nuclear site over 15 years.

The Strategic Partner will provide front-end definition and project sequencing services, undertake feasibility studies and initial engineering design.

It will also work on cost modelling to support Sellafield Ltd in production of business cases, support commissioning and embedding capabilities into the business including knowledge transfer into Sellafield teams.

Below the strategic partner, three delivery partners will complete detailed design and all procurement, installation, construction, commissioning and handover activities that form part of delivery.

Overall Strategic Partner

Front-end definition and project sequencing services (Spend £252m – £445m)

Three delivery partners

o Civils and general – Deliver work packages related to the road and rail network, pipe bridges and ducts, excavation and general civils work (spend £309m – £534m)

o High-voltage electrical – Deliver work packages related to improving the high-voltage electrical distribution network covering distribution, generation and substations. (spend £680m – £1,156m)

o Utilities – Deliver work packages related to the steam, water, chemical and compressed air networks and general mechanical work (£417m – £995m)

Sellafield Ltd will pay its partner’s actual costs monthly on a fully open-book basis.

Overheads will be paid monthly as a percentage of the defined costs in line with the schedule of costs components.

As part of the competition, tenderers will be asked to submit proposed profit within the ranges of 4%-10% for both the strategic partner and delivery partners.

The overhead cap percentage for the strategic partner is 20% and 10% for delivery partners.

Firms have until 17 March to express an interest.