Airborne particle monitoring

Tender description

The Authority is looking for a supplier to operate the UK Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Monitoring Network. The network provides national monitoring arrangements including those areas covered by Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland, collectively known as the Devolved Administrations. However, the contract is let by the Environment Agency on behalf of Central Government and the Devolved Administrations. The UK PAH Monitoring Network Operator is responsible for the management of a national network of air pollution monitoring sites throughout the UK for the measurement and assessment of a suite of PAHs for assessment and reporting levels of benzo(a)pyrene against EU and UK targets. The operator will be responsible for upkeep, collection, analysis, Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) and transfer of data to a third party who have responsibility for wider dissemination of the data. Tenderers should note that this is a three (3) year contract with the option of extending for a further twelve (12) months. A minimum of four (4) week handover period will operate where necessary at the beginning of this contract. These handover periods are to allow the new Contractor time to get ready to take over the full operation of the network. For the avoidance of doubt, no Contract charges shall be payable by the Authority in respect of the handover services at the beginning of the contract prior to commencement of Services. The Contractor will be responsible for their costs. The winning tenderer will take over full running and operation of the Network from 1.9.2016. The purpose of the PAHs Network is to determine the ambient concentrations of PAHs in the UK atmosphere through monitoring and chemical analysis to ensure the UK complies with the PAHs related provisions of the EU 4th Air Quality Daughter Directive (and any subsequent revisions) and the Air Quality Strategy PAHs Objective. Monitored concentrations form part of the UK's compliance assessment for benzo(a)pyrene alongside UK-wide national scale modelling (not part of this contract). The successful tenderer will operate and manage the Authority's PAHs monitoring network sites and analyse samples collected. The scope of services to be provided includes, but is not limited to: (a) collecting samples and data from specified monitoring points across the UK; (b) monitoring of airborne concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hdyrocarbons (PAHs) in-line with acceptable methodologies of the Directive; (c) production of sampling, in-field testing methodology and risk assessments; (d) undertaking regular maintenance and calibration of sampling equipment so that accurate data are collected with precision; (e) maintenance of data collection outlined within the requirements of the Directive; (f) provision of all consumables associated with the provision of the service; (g) all aspects of data management including but not limited to: — data handling and manipulation; — data quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC); — data validation/verification; and — data submission in a format compatible with the Authority's requirements; — interpretation of data (comparison of data against pre-defined thresholds and trends).