---
title: "Design Support Provider"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-051363"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051363"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051363.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051363.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "SELLAFIELD LIMITED"
published: "2025-11-19"
---

# Design Support Provider

Buyer: SELLAFIELD LIMITED  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-051363

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## Summary

Sellafield Limited, a public authority in the sub-central government sector, is preparing for a significant procurement process titled "Design Support Provider." The current stage is planning, with a preliminary market engagement notice issued to refine requirements and gather market feedback. Sellafield Limited, located in Warrington, UK, aims to launch formal competition for design support services under Lot 8 of the Crown Commercial Service RM6356 Framework Agreement in April 2026. The deadline for the initial engagement milestone is set for 5th December 2025. This procurement falls under the services category and encompasses various tasks essential to the decommissioning mission, focusing on design engineering and safety case support for nuclear facilities.

This tender presents an excellent opportunity for businesses, especially those offering niche nuclear design and safety case specialisations. With a gross contract value of GBP 360 million over four years, the procurement aims to establish long-term partnerships with suppliers capable of providing intelligent customer oversight and specialist design support. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to participate, with resilience in the supply chain as a priority. The framework agreement structure allows tenderers to bid for multiple contracts, fostering growth potential for firms proficient in civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, and process design in the nuclear sector. The procurement approach is structured to balance a competitive environment and the establishment of a capable and responsive supply chain.

## Notice

Sellafield Ltd plan to call for competition under Lot 8 of the new Crown Commercial Services RM6356 Construction Professional Services 2 (CPS2) Framework Agreement that is due to go live in April 2026. Sellafield Ltd. anticipates the call for competition commencing in April 2026. Design support is a critical enabler to the Sellafield Ltd mission. Delivery of design engineering and safety case support services are essential to the Sellafield decommissioning mission covering new assets, asset care, retrievals, and remediation projects. It will support the intelligent customer function for the other delivery models and provide early-stage client support to conclude the most appropriate point to commence scope transfer (i.e. value transition point). The contracts will deliver a design scope associated with the provision of Intelligent Customer (IC) oversight and niche nuclear design and safety case specialisms for the Sellafield Ltd Enterprise. The scope established to support the Sellafield enterprise aligns to capability provision. At the primary level it aligns to: * Client support - IC design support and independent capabilities, including early front-end design and studies support (pre-value transition point) * Operational support - providing a design and safety case provision to operational nuclear facilities, often needed quickly and with integrated working and on plant access. Value is realised through responsiveness to plant scenarios, minimising equipment downtime and reducing the need for replacement systems with associated Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit(CDEL) expenditure. * Safety case and specialist nuclear capability - supplements existing internal capabilities and focuses on enabling access to specialist skills that otherwise wouldn't be sustainable as part of full lifecycle delivery models. The competition will be managed as ten procurements based on scope aligned to different areas of the business. They will be undertaken in three tranches: Tranche 1 1. Contract 1 - Design support to Plant-Facing Design Office (PFDO) civil, structural and architectural 2. Contract 2 - Design support to PFDO multi-discipline mechanical, electrical and instrumentation 3. Contract 3 - Design support to PFDO manufactured products 4. Contract 4 - Design support to PFDO process Tranche 2 5. Contract 5 - Design support to Site project office client 6. Contract 6 - Design support to Remediation / legacy projects 7. Contract 7 - Design support to Retrievals client 8. Contract 8 - Design support to Studies and engineering capability Tranche 3 9. Contract 9 - Design support to Infrastructure front-end enabling 10. Contract 10 - Design support to Safety case Tenderers can bid for all contracts. If a supplier bids for all contracts, the intention is to restrict award to four (4) contracts, to enable a resilient supply chain. Suppliers who are approved on Lot 8 and wish to submit bids for five(5) or more contracts of this procurement, will be required to state a 'Preferred Contracts' in the event they are scored highest on both bids. The proposed duration for contracts is four (4) years, with no opportunity to extend for a further.

### Planning Information

Following publication of this UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Notice Sellafield Ltd will be undertaking PME to prepare effectively before calling for competition.
The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to provide potential participants who have bid for Lot 8 of CPS2 (and the wider Supply Chain), with the opportunity to engage with Sellafield Ltd. to better understand what the market can offer which will allow Sellafield Ltd. to refine and shape our requirements for Design Support Provider services. 
Sellafield Ltd. also want to gather feedback on the proposed timescales, contract restrictions, Call-Off term and approach for the commercial model.
Suppliers must register their interest to obtain further information and provide feedback about this opportunity via the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd E-procurement system, Atamis.
This can be found at the following address: https://atamis-2464.my.site.com/s/Welcome. Once you have registered on Atamis, you can access all documentation and submit feedback using the record reference C28065, Design Service Providers Engagement Vehicle.
Further information and UK1 notices can be found in the following records:
C25802 - Plant-Facing Design Office (PFDO) Civil, Structural and Architectural
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021371-2025]
C25855 - PFDO: Multi-discipline Mechanical, Electrical and Instrumentation
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020851-2025]
C25788 - PFDO: Manufactured Products Organisation
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021141-2025]
C25789 - PFDO: Process
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021152-2025]
C25799 - Site Project Office Client
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021111-2025]
C25786 - Remediation / Legacy Projects
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020813-2025]
C25857 - Retrievals Client
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020858-2025]
C25787 - Studies and Engineering Capability
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021134-2025]
C25797 - Infrastructure - Front-end Enabling
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021356-2025]
C25804 - Safety Cases
UK1 Notice: [https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021340-2025]

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/075370-2025 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Framework |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 19 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 1 Apr 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 31 May 2026 - 31 May 2030 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £300,000,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planned |
| Lots status | Planned |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SELLAFIELD LIMITED |
| Additional buyers | SELLAFIELD LIMITED - HINTON |
| Locality | WARRINGTON |
| Post town | Warrington |
| Postcode | WA3 6GR |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLD North West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLD6 Cheshire |
| ITL 3 | TLD61 Warrington |
| Local authority | Warrington |
| Electoral ward | Birchwood |
| Westminster constituency | Warrington North |
| Delivery location | TLD11 West Cumbria, TLD61 Warrington |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79933000 - Design support services

## Release History

- 19 Nov 2025 at 16:05 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/075370-2025
- 14 May 2025 at 14:13 - Planning - UK1 - Pipeline Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021371-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/075370-2025
  19th November 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021371-2025
  14th May 2025 - Pipeline notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://atamis-2464.my.site.com/s/Welcome
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020813-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020851-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/020858-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021111-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021134-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021141-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021152-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021340-2025
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/021356-2025
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/sellafield-ltd
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051363. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051363.json.