Engage 2: International Engagement Research

Concepts

• research services
• wider engagement
• international engagement
• several relevant bilateral and multilateral engagement activities
• research and innovation outputs
• international engagement research
• current, previous, and potential future international engagement activities
• research
• international
• uk academic and r&d communities

Location

London

Description

International engagement is viewed as a key enabler in achieving the UK’s decarbonisation targets, and the UK is already involved in several relevant bilateral and multilateral engagement activities that promote accessing, developing, and sharing knowledge, research and innovation outputs. The purpose of the International Engagement Programme is to build upon current, previous, and potential future international engagement activities funded by DESNZ and extend them to reflect the increased ambition. This will involve wider engagement with UK academic and R&D communities in the UK.

Total Quantity or Scope

The purpose of the International Engagement Programme is to build upon current, previous, and potential future international engagement activities funded by DESNZ and extend them to reflect the increased ambition. This will involve wider engagement with UK academic and R&D communities in the UK.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 73110000 - Research services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

There is considerable evidence that there is a single eligible supplier for these services, specifically the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL). NNL is a public corporation wholly owned by DESNZ which has a remit to support delivery of the Government’s national programmes in nuclear through excellence in science and technology; provide impartial and objective strategic advice to Government; represent the interests of the UK Government nationally or internationally in appropriate nuclear science and technology related fora, meetings and events. There are over-arching reasons for tasking NNL. As the UK national lab, NNL have an established network representing the entire nuclear landscape. Their reputation as the national lab enables them to work with partners who may not choose to work with purely commercial third parties. In addition, NNL have international networks and memberships to Boards and committees that third parties do not have and could not establish. NNL are the UK signatories and lead organisation for the Halden Programme. Membership to the programme is not determined by UK Government, and there is no guarantee that a different organisation would be accepted onto the Programme. This function should be carried out by the national laboratory as the central point of contact for nuclear energy R&D in the UK. It also provides input into the NNL role as strategic advisors to Government. NNL have a unique breadth of skills and knowledge spanning technical and strategic fields, resulting from their heritage as a national laboratory and requirement to understand Government policy. The justification for the Single Tender Action (STA) is therefore that competition is absent due to technical reasons, and to provide the combination of skills, integration and neutrality and STA to NNL is the most suitable procurement route to achieve the objectives and outcomes of this programme.