Tender
Dounreay shaft and silo decommissioning seeks a single delivery partner
By Staff Writer | 04-09-2026
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited has opened a competitive flexible procedure for a single delivery partner to support the decommissioning of the legacy shaft and silo intermediate level waste storage facilities at the Dounreay site in Caithness. The estimated value is 40,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax, the framework runs for ten years from 15 February 2027, and expressions of interest close at midday on 30 September 2026. The tender notice was published at 1:03pm on 3 September 2026 and corrected fourteen minutes later.
The notice as first published described the exercise as preliminary market engagement. A second notice at 1:17pm carries an amendment recording that the UK4 tender notice was modified to correct its description, which had been carried over from the earlier UK2 notice. The corrected wording is that the company is seeking delivery partner services for the decommissioning of the facilities. The values, dates and evaluation terms are identical on both notices.
Two notices fourteen minutes apart, one calling the exercise market engagement and one calling it a tender, is the kind of record a bidder needs to read in full before relying on either.
A closed framework with one participant
The procurement is for a framework agreement with a maximum of one participant, of the closed type, and without reopening of competition. The notice describes what that participant will do:
The Delivery Partner appointed through this procurement will support the Authority by providing the integrated capability, controls, resources and programme support needed to progress the Dounreay Shaft & Silo programme mission. This includes supporting mobilisation, programme integration, planning, engineering coordination, delivery controls, interface management, commercial and procurement support, assurance, reporting, construction readiness, inactive commissioning and handover activity as described in the Specification and wider procurement documents
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited, tender notice
The main procurement category is works and the contract is above threshold. The estimated value of 40,000,000 pounds is stated excluding value added tax, with a gross figure of 48,000,000 pounds. The contract period on the single lot runs from 15 February 2027 to 14 February 2037.
Timetable and evaluation
The procedure is selective. Conditions of participation are set out in instructions on the buyer's procurement portal and the notice records that they will be used to reduce the field. The second stage is capped at four candidates. The enquiry period ends at midday on 21 September 2026, expressions of interest close at midday on 30 September 2026, and the award period runs to 5 February 2027.
Award criteria are published as two weighted heads. Technical carries 70 percent and commercial carries 30 percent, both expressed as exact percentages. Electronic submission is allowed and the language of the procedure is English.
Suppliers are directed to log in to the buyer's supplier portal, locate the opportunity, register interest and submit within the proposals area. The two notices give the opportunity reference in two different forms, C30936 in the procedure features and C39036 in the submission method details, and neither notice records which is correct.
What the notice does not say
The notice does not describe the condition of the shaft and silo facilities, the inventory they hold, the decommissioning method, or the physical works the delivery partner will make ready for construction. It does not say whether the delivery partner will carry out works itself or manage others who do. It publishes no breakdown of the 40,000,000 pound estimate across the ten years, and no separate value for the mobilisation, programme integration or assurance elements listed in the framework description. Those matters sit in the specification and the wider procurement documents, which are available only through the portal.