The supply of specialised analytical equipment to upgrade laboratories at NRS

A direct award is being made by Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (Dounreay) to Mirion Technologies (Canberra) UK Ltd for the supply of specialised analytical equipment to upgrade laboratories on the Dounreay site.

The proposed route to market is a PA23 Direct Award Procedure under Section 41, Schedule 5, Paragraph 7 on the grounds of:

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.

This requirement can only be supplied by Mirion Technologies (Canberra) UK Ltd, as the equipment is required to form part of, and integrate with, an existing bespoke analytical system in operation at the Dounreay site.

Changing supplier would introduce compatibility and integration risks, potentially requiring modification or replacement of existing assets and resulting in additional costs for system changes, validation activities, maintenance arrangements, and staff training. Such changes would also introduce programme delays and could adversely affect NRS's ability to support future statutory, regulatory and decommissioning requirements.

Given the need to maintain compatibility with the existing analytical system and avoid disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance, the Authority considers that no reasonable alternative or substitute exists capable of delivering the required goods within acceptable levels of risk, cost, and timescale.