PRIOR INFORMATION NOTICE FOR CONTRACT IN THE FIELD OF DEFENCE AND SECURITY - OFFICIAL JOURNAL

Section I: Contracting Authority / Entity

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority/entity

Construction small works and Services

II.2)

Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

II.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.4)

Short description of nature and scope of works or nature and quantity or value of supplies or services

Atomic Weapons Establishment Plc ("AWE") is looking to engage with the market to help inform its sourcing strategy and understand supplier capability to support the Estates & Liabilities team through the provision of construction works and associated services in a capacity of Principal Contractor and Principal Designer (under CDM 2015) across a range of capabilities including roofing, refurbishment, mechanical & electrical and civils & structural, as well as associated construction professional services, in its Aldermaston, Burghfield and Blacknest sites.

AWE are considering a framework agreement with three suppliers for a period of up to 7 years.

Call-offs under the framework will be issued via direct award or further competition.

II.5)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.6)

Scheduled date for start of award procedures and duration of the contract

II.7)

Additional information

For more than 70 years, AWE has supported the UK Government's nuclear defence strategy and the Continuous At Sea Deterrent. We also use our nuclear know-how and technical expertise to provide innovative solutions that support the UK's counter-terrorism and nuclear threat reduction activities.

As part of its mission, AWE is looking to engage with the market to understand supplier capability to support the Estates & Liabilities team through the provision of construction works and associated services in a capacity of Principal Contractor and Principal Designer (under CDM 2015) across a range of capabilities including roofing, refurbishment, mechanical & electrical and civils & structural, as well as associated construction professional services, in its Aldermaston, Burghfield and Blacknest sites.

We are requesting information on your capability and capacity to provide the construction works and associated services outlined below and further information within an RFI to support us in developing our sourcing strategy.

The scope of Services being considered is not limited to, but represented by:

• Refurbishment Works

• Roofing Works

• Mechanical & Electrical Works

• HVAC

• Civils & Structural Works

• Asbestos Consultancy and Disposal Services

• Energy Efficiency Consultancy

• Building Management and Fire Protection

• Construction Professional Services inclusive of Design, Assurance and Discrete professional services across the project lifecycle

• Principal Contractor and Principal Designer capability

AWE is especially interested in providers who have experience of providing small scale construction works and services (construction works and services projects will range from circa £100k to circa £7m) in secure and sensitive environments and who have acted in a capacity of Principal Contractor and Principal Designer under the Construction Design and Management Regulations (CDM 2015).

In respect of the requirements, the works and services must be delivered with a minimum of BPSS cleared staff who are eligible for Security Clearance and a majority of SC cleared staff. In the future a proportion of DV staff will be required.

Furthermore, the supplier must be able to match or be willing and able to demonstrate the ability to match Cyber Essentials Plus by scheduled award date.

Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial and Technical Information

III.1)

Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)

Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions regulating them

III.2)

Conditions for participation

III.2.1)

Reserved contracts

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds

VI.2)

Additional information

To support the development of our procurement strategy and understand how the market can support and fulfil AWE requirements, AWE is requesting interested parties to submit the proforma; available from AWEProcurement@awe.co.uk, including in the title of your email submission "Construction Small Works - [Supplier Name]".

Once the necessary security checks have been carried out using information submitted in the proforma, if successful, the RFI will be sent to the nominated email in your proforma.

Responses to the RFI should be submitted via email to AWEProcurement@awe.co.uk, including in the title of your email submission "Construction Small Works - [Supplier Name]".

We ask that you register your interest in this PIN and respond to the Request for information (RFI) by 25th March 2024 16:00 GMT.

A Supplier Briefing will be hosted virtually on 19th March 2024 14:00 GMT to provide further information to potential bidders.

To receive an invitation to the Supplier Briefing presentation the proforma must be completed and returned by 13th March 13:00 GMT.

The nature of this PIN is such that AWE intends to operate restrictions within the relevant procurement regulations in order to protect essential national security interests. If an economic operator has connections with any hostile entity or foreign states which are deemed by AWE to pose a risk to the UK's national security interests or is otherwise considered not to possess the reliability necessary to exclude risks to the security of the United Kingdom, AWE reserves its right to exclude them from this exercise.

In issuing this PIN and engaging with the market, the AWE is not committing to conduct any procurement in relation to this Programme. Equally non-participation in this Market Engagement will not be taken into account in any future procurement activities and will not preclude any organisation from submitting a tender in any future competitions.

Note: The nature of this contract is such that the award will be subject to supplier's passing AWE's security requirements as dictated by its site licenses.

VI.3)

Information on general regulatory framework

VI.4)

Date of dispatch of this notice