Organisation owned by government and overseen by DESNZ has updated its commercial intentions, and now expects to award a deal of seven years to a single provider of tech services

The public body responsible for operating the Sellafield nuclear waste-processing site has unveiled newly streamlined plans to appoint a single tech partner to deliver IT hosting and software-management services.

Sellafield Ltd has recently published a commercial pipeline notice restating its expectations for its tech needs in the coming years. The updated specification – for “ICT hosted infrastructure management and application management services” – replaces a previous notice released six months ago.

That plan set the government-owned company’s intention to establish an agreement comprised of two segments, with each half respectively covering the management of hardware and software.

“The previously stated two-lot structure and contracting approach has been revised. The requirement will now be delivered through one single contract covering both applications and infrastructure scope, without lots,” the amended notice says. “This consolidated approach streamlines delivery, reduces duplication, and results in a revised estimated contract value of £76.1m.”

Related content

• Government seeks software to track radioactive waste as nuclear site decommissioned
• schoolchildren given ex-nuclear power PCs
• Government progresses plan to use robots for Sellafield clean-up

This value equates to £91.32m, inclusive of VAT. Sellafield Ltd now also plans to award a flat seven-year contract to its chosen provider, rather than its previous plan of an initial five-year term, with two option 12-month extensions beyond this.

The organisation intends to go to market with a formal tender, opening bidding for the arrangement, in May. Once a supplier has been chosen, Sellafield Ltd expects to enter into a contract in April of next year.

Sellafield Ltd is owned by the government and its work is directed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, an executive agency which operates under the sponsorship of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Based on the Cumbrian coast, the Sellafield site (pictured above) occupies about two square miles and began operating shortly after the Second World War. From 1956 until 2003, the facility generated nuclear power. For almost 20 years thereafter it reprocessed nuclear fuel but, since 2022, it has been dedicated to the processing of nuclear waste and conducting the safe decommissioning of nuclear facilities – a process which is expected to take until 2040