Warehouse management system

Tender description

Highways England is considering starting the tendering exercise this Summer (2016) to replace the National Distribution Centre contract (which expires in March 2017), with a new ‘National Technology and Logistics Centre’ contract. The purpose of this PIN is to provide Suppliers with advance notice of our requirement so they may consider if they have the capability and capacity to respond to the forthcoming OJEU Notice for this work. You do not reply to this notice. The following description provides an indication of the contract scope and scale for the consideration of interested suppliers: The Contractor will be responsible for: — Receiving, storing and despatching a wide range of items (currently in the order of 1 500 live Stock Keeping Units — SKUs) associated with roadside Technology Equipment for the strategic road network in England; — Picking orders provided by Highways England and delivering them to regional maintenance providers and schemes; — Stock control (100 % every 3 months) and financial reporting (every month); — Organising the transport of products using appropriate haulage, pallet and parcel services and will be required to operate a trailer with a lorry mounted crane (used in the transportation of drums and signs) from the current incumbent. The Contractor must be able to provide a facility to meet the following indicative requirements: i) A warehouse and storage facility within 30 miles of an area bounded by Nottingham, Bedford, Birmingham. The contractor may be required to set up and run satellite stores in other parts of the country either at their own sites, or at sites provided by the Highways England; ii) Hard standing for cable drums, pillars and palletised construction materials (currently using 140 000 square feet); iii) A further area outside the warehouse of some 20 000 square feet of concrete pad for the storage of large items of electrical equipment. The area should be provided with 20 electricity sockets (3kw per socket); iv) An area within the warehouse for the storage of large items of electrical equipment, currently 10 000 square feet; v) Full pallet locations, Euro and UK (currently around 1 500); vi) 1/2 pallet locations (Currently 300); vii) 1 and a 1/2 locations (currently 450); viii) Storage bins (approximately 1 cubic foot/ 0,03 m3 currently 200); ix) Shelving within the racking (currently 800 feet). This will require a site where the space utilised can be ‘flexed’ and varied in accordance with the changing requirements of Highways England. The Contractor shall use the nominated Highways England IT system which is currently Oracle based, or they may be requested to provide a suitable system. The warehouse should be heated to a minimum temperature of 12°C. Access requirements will be detailed in the Tender Documents. Highways England also requires safe and appropriate facilities for its Third Line Services who provide an inspection, test and repair function for faulty equipment returned from regional maintenance providers. This is largely a pedestrian area and will include the following indicative requirements: — A workshop area within the above warehouse of approximately 6 000 square feet with; — 5 workbenches (with chairs), and 30 electricity sockets (13A), protected by RCD and main emergency cut-off switch; — Approximately 120 pallet locations; — A goods inward quarantine area of approximately 1 000 square feet (93 square meters) adjacent to the workshop area; — A separate, heated and secure office facilities with 4 desks with direct telephone points/ lines, suitable connection for broadband and power sockets; — Access to serviced toilets and parking. Note: The Contractor will not be required to provide any test equipment or office furniture or equipment for Third Line Services. Additionally, from Summer 2017 Highways England may require safe and appropriate facilities for a Test and Innovation Centre (TIC). The main purpose of this facility will be to allow Highways England suppliers to demonstrate, test and conduct training on roadside equipment in a safe environment. We anticipate that it will require an additional 60 000 square feet (approximately) of outside space and 2 000 square feet (approximately) of indoor space (with an office). Power will be required to the outside area and internal area suitable for a large number of Technology items. We anticipate a contract lasting 3 years with 2 +1 year extensions subject to contractor performance and operational need. Estimated cost (excluding VAT): Between 4 000 000 GBP and 6 000 000 GBP for the 1st 3 years. Estimated value is expected to be between 1 200 000 GBP and 2 000 000 GBP for each extension year thereafter (if any extension options are taken up).