Campus for Advanced Nuclear Skills and Innovation: Pilot Programme

Concepts

• campus for advanced nuclear skills and innovation
• national nuclear laboratory
• research and development
• department for business, energy and industrial strategy
• advanced nuclear skills
• pilot programme
• civil nuclear licensed site
• advanced nuclear campus pilot programme
• pilot project
• campus

Location

United Kingdom: UNITED KINGDOM

Description

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) intends to appoint the National Nuclear Laboratory for The Advanced Nuclear Campus Pilot Programme, that will establish a 9 month pilot for an advanced nuclear skills and innovation campus. The Pilot will: • demonstrate how collaborative Innovation and Research projects can be successfully carried out on a civil Nuclear Licensed Site, and how best to remove barriers and facilitate access to those sites; • demonstrate and evaluate different approaches to providing skills, training, and experience on a civil Nuclear Licensed Site, for a range of ages and educational backgrounds; • establish the scope and specification of future Campuses, including, location considerations, access arrangements and infrastructure requirements; and • develop robust evidence base and propose suitable delivery models and funding levels for full-scale Campuses and identifying what level of user demand exists across the sector.

Total Quantity or Scope

The core requirement for the pilot project is to trial approaches or arrangements for overcoming the barrier to technology development in a nuclear environment; in other words, the pilot will identify how best to provide reasonable site access to the wider market. This requirement means that a delivery partner must have ready access to R&D facilities on a civil nuclear licensed site from the start of the 9-month programme (i.e. from June 2021). Only NNL have access to extensive R&D facilities on a nuclear licensed site, and thus can provide the services required by this procurement. Our initial estimated budget of £1.745m has moved to a £2.045m finalised budget, after continued development of project requirements and scoping of costs, since the market engagement and related PIN. Additional information: Our initial estimated budget of £1.745m has moved to a £2.045m finalised budget, after continued development of project requirements and scoping of costs, since the market engagement and related PIN.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

Legal Justification

The NNL is a Government-owned body (the Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is the sole shareholder) and as such has a remit to support Government in nuclear technical matters. For this pilot programme, market engagement was held with industry organisations, academia and consultancies to determine the viability of a competitive procurement procedure. Feedback gathered has caused BEIS to discount a competition as a viable route for the campus pilot. This is based on the following factors: • It is not feasible currently to provide the wider market with fair and reasonable access to R&D facilities on a civil nuclear licensed site, therefore a fair competition cannot be held. • Any potential competitive option would require complex consortia structures, which go against the pilot objectives - all consortia partners would need to partner with a site licencee or enter into lengthy new site licence negotiations with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). The pilot is not intended to trial and assess the delivery partner, but instead trial the process, learning and outcomes of pilot projects and training enabled by the delivery partner. • Only a single organisation (NNL) currently have access to extensive R&D facilities on a nuclear licensed site. The core requirement for the pilot project is to trial approaches or arrangements for overcoming the barrier to technology development in a nuclear environment; in other words, the pilot will identify how best to provide reasonable site access to the wider market. This requirement means that a delivery partner must have ready access to R&D facilities on a civil licensed site from the start of the 9-month programme (i.e. from June 2021). As mentioned, only a single organisation (NNL) already having access to extensive R&D facilities on a nuclear licensed site and can currently offer this service. Whilst the single source route is appropriate for this pilot, it is vital to create an environment where a fair and open competition is possible for future campus phases. Any future open competition is predicated on the pilot not giving any unfair advantage to the delivery partner or licensed site. During this pilot programme NNL must look toward the next phase and the importance of opening up the market. Opening up the market requires: • Future Multiple Site Options – NNL will be tasked with identifying future campus location(s), the benefits they could bring and the necessary interventions to enable them to do so. • Future Multiple Delivery Partners – NNL will be tasked with identifying effective processes and opportunities for organisations to become tenants on nuclear licensed sites, along with associated challenges and requirements. • Industrial Innovation. NNL will be tasked with identifying campus features (working model and timelines) to enable campus innovation from the market and drive toward Value for Money (ROI) with the Research and Development conducted.

Other Information

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