Winter-maintenance materials

Tender description

Salt saturators (and supporting infrastructure) such as brine storage tanks and rain-water harvesters are used by Highways England to produce and store brine solution that is used for pre-wet treatments for de-icing the roads during a typical winter season that commences annually from 1st Oct and lasts until April the following year. A number of these existing assets are approaching 10 years old, and Highways England needs to consider replacing these before they fail and potentially compromise winter service activities during a critical time of the year. This contract is intended to serve both Asset Delivery and Asset Support Contract Areas Nationally and will have the flexibility to order all supporting units as and when required by the client, following completion of an internal assessment of all depot sites. Two separate contracts will be on offer intended for 2 independent suppliers; One to provide units for the North and the other for the South. The contract under consideration for the North comprises of 60 Highways England depots situated across various locations, but in close proximity to the strategic road network. Each depot location is unique in both size and overall operational requirements, but collectively depot sites are combined regionally to be able to respond to emergency incidents and deliver business critical winter services. Located at each depot will be a variety of operatives (including traffic officers), vehicles, machinery and more specifically winter service equipment (that includes) salt saturators, brine storage tanks and rainwater harvesters. Not all sites will have a combination of all 3 units, but this could change should the operational requirements of a depot be reviewed; all assets identified by the client for potential replacement are approaching 10 years old and are subject to an internal assessment. Therefore until conclusion of these reports there is no guarantee that all assets will require replacement. For any unit identified for replacement (or if an addition to existing infrastructure has been identified) then the chosen supplier will be required to provide the client with technical advice (including detailed plans of any supporting civils) which should include advice of what mains AC supply, water connection, drainage requirements are needed etc.) Subject to approval by the client, the chosen supplier will therefore be required to provide the equipment as per the clients requirement, that includes the supply (manufacture), delivery, installation and commissioning of new units as requested (to the desired specification) to each depot site as identified by the client. New units will need to be provided with a 3 year warranty that includes an annual commissioning and a decommissioning regime. Services may therefore involve a pre-site meeting with the client to establish overall need and what infrastructure is required to provide appropriate Winter Service provision. Under consideration is a contract for an initial 3 year period that the client intends to reward the supplier based on performance for potentially a further 4 years (in 2 year increments); so potentially 7 years in total. The contract under consideration for the South comprises of 51 Highways England depots situated across various locations, but in close proximity to the strategic road network. Each depot location is unique in both size and overall operational requirements, but collectively depot sites are combined regionally to be able to respond to emergency incidents and deliver business critical winter services. Located at each depot will be a variety of operatives (including traffic officers), vehicles, machinery and more specifically winter service equipment (that includes) salt saturators, brine storage tanks and rainwater harvesters. Not all sites will have a combination of all 3 units, but this could change should the operational requirements of a depot be reviewed; all assets identified by the client for potential replacement are approaching 10 years old and are subject to an internal assessment. Therefore until conclusion of these reports there is no guarantee that all assets will require replacement. For any unit identified for replacement (or if an addition to existing infrastructure has been identified) then the chosen supplier will be required to provide the client with technical advice (including detailed plans of any supporting civils) which should include advice of what mains AC supply, water connection, drainage requirements are needed etc.) Subject to approval by the client, the chosen supplier will therefore be required to provide the equipment as per the clients requirement, that includes the supply (manufacture), delivery, installation and commissioning of new units as requested (to the desired specification) to each depot site as identified by the client. New units will need to be provided with a 3 year warranty that includes an annual commissioning and a decommissioning regime. Services may therefore involve a pre-site meeting with the client to establish overall need and what infrastructure is required to provide appropriate Winter Service provision. Under consideration is a contract for an initial 3 year period that the client intends to reward the supplier based on performance for potentially a further 4 years (in 2 year increments); so potentially 7 years in total.