- Id
- C32701
- Status
- complete
- Procurement Method
- direct
- Procurement Method Details
- Direct award
- Why this procedure was chosen
- This direct award is justified
- under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023, Schedule 5, Paragraph 7, which permits a direct award where:
(a) a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving goods, services or works that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing goods, services or works, and
(b)the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.
It would be difficult for another provider to demonstrate the same level of expertise as Orano who has developed significant organisational knowledge of NRS and FCA decommissioning requirements through its previous development of the RRP decommissioning approach to Integrated Concept maturity and possesses unique experience in the operation and decommissioning of fast reactor fuel reprocessing facilities, including the AT1 facility at La Hague, which shares key technical characteristics with RRP. The requirement is not simply for programme management consultancy. The requirement is for the continuation of specialist decommissioning activities delivered by Orano between 2021 and 2024 under the DSF for NRS Dounreay, specifically decontamination and POCO of Fast Reactor Fuel Reprocessing facilities within the Fuel Cycle Area (FCA).
Completion of the remaining scope necessitates detailed knowledge of alpha decommissioning and chemical washouts, including the methodologies, engineering design, waste-characterisation approaches, software and modelling tools (including Orano’s proprietary software, LEOPARD), safety-substantiation work, and lessons learned generated during the earlier phase. Now a further requirement exists to continue these activities over a three-year period. This contract will enable the restart of the FCA – North work previously undertaken by Orano, supporting the reduction of the overall FCA programme duration and associated lifetime decommissioning costs, and also will contribute to reducing the volume of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) generated during decommissioning. Orano will implement the existing investigation plan to provide suitable data for targeted Post Operational Clean Out (POCO) and future decommissioning works and develop the detailed design of elements from the existing RRP decommissioning plan originally produced by Orano.
Awarding a contract to Orano as the Interim Delivery Partner will preserve project knowledge, minimise mobilisation and handover risks, and provide access to specialist expertise and lessons learned that cannot be readily replicated by alternative suppliers within the required timescales. Introducing a new supplier would require substantial knowledge transfer, familiarisation and technical revalidation activities, resulting in increased cost, programme delay and delivery risk.
Orano has developed multiple proprietary technologies directly relevant to POCO and washout optimisation. That fact demonstrates the absence of competition for technical reasons, supporting the fact that only a particular supplier, Orano, can supply the services required.
This makes Orano one of the strongest technically differentiated suppliers for POCO washout activities when compared with engineering-led providers whose experience is focused primarily on reactor decommissioning, programme integration, or waste treatment rather than fuel-cycle operations.
For POCO washout work specifically, Orano's strongest differentiator versus many competitors is not simply decommissioning experience, but the fact that it has operated and decommissioned some of the world's most complex nuclear fuel-cycle facilities. This gives the company unusually strong expertise in process decontamination, radioactive liquor management, nitric-acid washout campaigns, remote operations, and waste conditioning.
Orano Limited is the owner of LEOPARD- programme, cost and resource modelling software which has been utilised during the life of the previous Contract. Alternatives would not constitute a reasonable substitute because Results would not be directly comparable with existing LEOPARD models and migration to an alternative platform would require significant redevelopment, including reconstruction of established models, data structures, assumptions and validation processes.
NRS Dounreay therefore considers that no reasonable alternative exists that can deliver the requirement with an equivalent degree of technical capability, continuity and confidence, without significant avoidable cost, risk and delay, and that changing supplier would create disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.
This satisfies the requirement in Schedule 5 Paragraph 7.
A direct award to Orano Limited is considered compliant with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023.
- Published risks
- 1. There is the risk that during this Contract, more scope issues than originally foreseen in the Scope of Services, could be uncovered. This could result in the contract value requiring increased sanction, which could potentially take the Contract value over the funding available.
2. Changes in project and programme priorities / scope within FCA, which could result in the desirable outputs / deliverables changing.
3. Contractor may not be able to provide the resource outlined within their Proposal, for the duration of the contract, or during busy periods.
4. Changes in regulatory requirements or industry standards impacting scope of services.