The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

23 July 2012

Almost 170 delegates attended last week's Bidder Conference to hear details of the competition to appoint a new Parent Body Organisation for the 12 Magnox and RSRL sites.

Held in Manchester, potential bidding organisations from around the world, together with stakeholders, regulators and trade unions were given an outline of the competition schedule as well as the NDA's expectations on progressing the decommissioning programme at each site.

NDA Chief Executive John Clarke welcomed the delegates with an overview of the competition process, which forms a key part of the NDA's mission to introduce private-sector innovation and minimise costs for the taxpayer. A series of presentations from NDA competition team members and regulators each ended with a question-and-answer session. Issues covered included the future sale of EnergySolutions, current owner of the Magnox sites, Scottish independence, the Geological Disposal Facility, socio-economics and the impact of competition on ongoing site activities.

During the day, delegates also had opportunities to speak on a one-to-one basis with members of the NDA competition team and with community representatives who were able to share their aspiration for involvement of a new PBO in socio-economic initiatives.

Competition Manager Steve Dixon said:

"We felt the event was successful in giving potential bidders a clear understanding of how the competition will be conducted, and what we will be expecting from those who decide to move forward to the next stage. It was also useful for us to engage with individual representatives from interested organisations, and with other stakeholders."

The competition will run over a period of around two years and, valued at between £4-5 billion over the next seven years, is one of the UK's largest public procurement exercises. 

The first formal step was the publication on 16 July of the Contract Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), which gave official notification about the start of the process. 

Following the launch the next step will be the submission of pre-qualification questionnaires by potential bidding organisations to the NDA.

• More information on the Magnox and RSRL competition