Management, Operation and Maintenance of Mine Water Treatment Schemes and Monitoring Sites, Mine Gas Fan Stations and Land Drainage Pump Stations

Concepts

• mansfield
• wastewater plant
• water treatment work
• repair and maintenance
• mine water treatment sites
• land drainage pump stations
• operational asset management
• waste management
• management
• site roads

Location

MANSFIELD

Description

The Coal Authority is a non-departmental public body responsible for the licensing of Coal Mining, historical coal mining liabilities and the provision of coal mining information for the UK. The Coal Authority employs 140 staff, based mainly at the head offices in Mansfield with some field staff remotely based in order to respond quickly to incidents in the coal mining areas. The Authority has a requirement for a 10 year contract to manage, operate and maintain its mine water, mine gas and other environmental assets/facilities. Mine Water treatment schemes treat from 5 l/s up to 450 l/s some of which are chemically dosed, pumping stations, mine gas venting infrastructure and monitoring sites. The Authority may require the Contractor to take the responsibility for holding consents to discharge. The inclusion of this requirement in the contract will depend on the whole life cost and value that this approach will deliver for the Authority. The management of these environmental assets will be split into 2 contracts: Pumped mine water treatment sites - currently 62 schemes and circa 700-800 monitoring sites; Passive mine water treatment sites - currently 20 schemes. The majority of the portfolio of sites stretch from South Wales, through the Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire to the North East Cumbria and Scotland, but sites are also located outside of these regions. Additional sites may be added to the portfolio as new schemes are planned, built and commissioned depending on funding. There may be scope for additional subsidence pumping stations to be added to the portfolio of sites during the term of this Contract. The scope may include both coal and non coal mine water and may also cover other responsibilities performed by the Authority. The Contractor(s) for both contracts will collaborate in a partnership approach with the Coal Authority's Design and Construct provider and the Coal Authority on new scheme construction and refurbishment projects. This partnership working will involve an integrated approach with the Design and Construct provider to align design and construction with operational asset management to deliver an efficient and seamless service to the Coal Authority which will also include decommissioning of existing sites prior to removal from the portfolio. The Authority requires continuous improvement to asset management and operational efficiency, sustainable solutions, innovation and R&D investment to deliver year on year savings. The contract start date will be 1.1.2015 however there will be a handover period and full contractual responsibility will commence on 1.4.2015. The services will also include the provision of the following: - Supply and installation of replacement and new pumps; - Ground water recovery tests; - Power management; - Pump overhauls and testing; - Mechanical and electrical maintenance; - Supply of chemicals; - Sludge and waste management; - Reed bed management; - Landscape management; - Supply of data loggers; - Supply of gas analysers; - Measuring, sampling and testing of water, gas and sludge; - Research and development; - Asset management; - Telemetry; - Electronic management reporting; - Design of mechanical and electrical requirements; - Maintenance of structures and site roads, tracks and paths. The services will incorporate the following: - Sludge and waste management; - Reed bed management; - Landscape management; - Supply of data loggers; - Supply of gas analysers; - Measuring, sampling and testing of water, gas and sludge; - Research and development; - Asset management; - Electronic management reporting; - Maintenance of structures and site roads, tracks and paths.

Ammendments to Previous Notice

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 45259100 - Wastewater-plant repair and maintenance work
• 45232430 - Water-treatment work

Indicators

• Contract modified due to unforeseen circumstances.

Legal Justification

The need for this additional term of the contract has occurred because of unforeseen challenges, necessitating an adjustment to our original timeline. These challenges have included; A severe, unprecedented incident in Wales which saw 78 properties flooded by mine water required the focus of internal resources. This required a coordinated effort between the Coal Authority, Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales, Local Council and contractors including the incumbent contractor. A temporary reporting structure was put in place to prioritise the solution to the water flow and impact on residents. The incident required many of the same resources as the contract renewal and has taken 14 months to complete due to the complexity of the project. Other unforeseen incidents requiring senior leadership focus to remedy and therefore re-prioritisation and focus on MWTS performance and projects also impacted resource capacity during this time. The capacity of the Coal Authority, a relatively small organisation, had been effected by the impacts of Covid-19, with increased employee sickness, changes in working hours, adapting to hybrid working from multiple locations with an impact on workload and capacity of delivery. The recovery from Covid-19 has also resulted in a challenging recruitment market. A number of resources were identified that were required to deliver different aspects of the contract renewal project and to provide governance. For 2 new temporary roles there has been 5 recruitment campaigns. Challenges appeared to be both the skill set and experience the Coal Authority are seeking on the Term Service NEC4 contract and market forces increasing operational roles salaries. Several employees attempted to work and move the project forward as well as continuing to deliver substantive roles but the demands of the project had to be balanced with the business priorities and management of operational activities. At the end of 2022, key project team members were unavailable for several weeks due to unforeseen circumstances. Immediately on publication of this notice a Prior Information Notice (PIN) will be published on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service to inform the market of the timetable for the procurement of the replacement contract which includes further market engagement sessions on week commencing 29 January 2024