Welding

Tender description

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (‘PIN’) is to engage with the supply market via a soft market testing questionnaire concerning welding services, to assist Network Rail’s understanding of: • the level of interest in the project; • the capacity within the market to deliver the requirements; • any barriers that may prevent organisations from participating in a tendering exercise for this requirement; • potential new and innovative solutions to meet Network Rail’s requirements; • the market’s appetite for different commercial delivery options to meet the requirements. For the sake of clarity, this is not a call to competition and no contract(s) will awarded to any supplier as a result of participating in this exercise. The purpose of publishing the Prior Information Notice (‘PIN’) and the issuing of this Soft Market Testing Questionnaire (‘SMT’) is to engage with the supply market in relation to the provision of welding services to assist Network Rail’s understanding of: — the level of interest in the service, — the capacity within the market to deliver the requirements, — any barriers that may prevent organisations participating in a tendering exercise, — potential new and innovative solutions to meet Network Rail’s requirements, — the market’s appetite for different commercial delivery options to meet the requirements. For the sake of clarity, this is not a call to competition and no contract(s) will awarded to any supplier as a result of participating in this exercise. A strategy is being developed for the requirement of Arc welding, Aluminothermic Welding, and Rail Grinding under a works contract arrangement. Network Rail in the forthcoming procurement exercise will be seeking to appoint a framework of suppliers to provide welding works across all 5 regions of the rail infrastructure. Throughout this exercise, Network Rail, with the help of the market, wishes to explore and consider optimal options and delivery models for this requirement including exploring the best commercial delivery models. Responses to the questions within the soft market testing questionnaire are welcomed from all interested suppliers. For the avoidance of doubt, no information provided in response to this questionnaire will be used by Network Rail to assess suppliers during any eventual procurement process. All information submitted as part of this PIN exercise will be used for the purposes of understanding the marketplace and to help shape the future contract. With this in mind, suppliers are invited to request the questionnaire from Tom Weatherley — Network Rail Infrastructure Sourcing Manager, via the following email address: tom.weatherley@networkrail.co.uk Please ensure that the subject heading for the email is as follows: 'Welding Services Soft Market Testing'. All responses must be provided by 5 p.m. on 18 September 2020 at the following email address: tom.weatherley@networkrail.co.uk This notice also provides an open invite to market consultation sessions to help shape Network Rail’s procurement strategy. As such, Network Rail may hold market consultation sessions with suppliers, via conference call appointments, prior to this procurement project. The market consultation calls/sessions are advertised openly using this notice. Appointments will be secured on a first come, first served basis. Interested parties should contact Tom Weatherley via email (tom.weatherley@networkrail.co.uk) no later than 5 p.m. on 18 September 2020 regarding interest in these workshops. Please note that a date for any possible supplier workshops will be advised in due course to all parties who will have expressed an interest in attending, should they go ahead. Note that sufficient notice will be given ahead of the workshops being held. Following the market engagement exercise, Network Rail will not be bound to conduct a procurement exercise or to award any contract, and where it commences a tender exercise, reserves the right to cancel the tendering process at any time.