Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom

1. Title: ELECTRICAL SAFETY TESTING OF NETWORK EQUIPMENT CABINETS
2. Awarding Authority: UK Ministry of Defence, GB. Web:
3. Contract type: Service contract
4. Description: This opportunity requires the provision of a managed rapid response electrical service to test network equipment cabinets (within 72hrs, 24hrs in an emergency) at any UK Establishment housing MoD ICT services. Where full EICR testing or remediation are required, a client established planned outage process is to be followed.
5. CPV Code(s): 72000000, 72700000, 72710000
6. NUTS code(s): UKI, UKI3, UKI32, UKN0
7. Main site or location of works, main place of delivery or main place of performance: Location No specific location, eg they can work remotely
Address where the work will take place Any MoD Establishment, including Industry Partner Sites, within the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland) where live ICT services are provided.
8. Reference attributed by awarding authority: Not provided.
9. Estimated value of requirement: Not provided.
10. Closing date for applications 4.12.2018 (23:59).
11. Address to which they must be sent: For further information regarding the above contract notice please visit
12. Other information: Deadline for asking questions Tuesday 27 November 2018 at 11:59pm GMT
Latest start date Friday 14 December 2018
Expected contract length 12 months + optional 6 month extension
Why the work is being done This requirement relates to the electrical safety testing of network equipment cabinets and is limited to testing from the point of isolation to the PDU within the cabinet. This requirement is to provide a rapid response electrical resource to ensure that the MoD comply with health and safety requirements, whilst also ensuring that live ICT services are restored in the event of a loss of service. Testing is required to meet BS7671 and JSP604 Leaflet 4800 standards, with the supplier required to book planned outages (using a defined process) where full EICR testing and remediation work are needed.
Problem to be solved Where a loss of live ICT services occurs, and a cabinet is without an EICR, there is a need to conduct a full EICR or an enhanced visual inspection to include polarity and earth loop impedance tests (VI++). All testing and remediation (if required) is to be compliant with BS7671 and JSP604; however, JSP604 non-compliances are to be noted as such and not codified (C1, C2, C3, FI). On completion of testing an EICR or VI++ Report is to be produced (preferably electronically) with a copy left with the cabinet and emailed to the customer.
Who the users are and what they need to do The requirement is for attendance by a rapid response electrical resource at any MoD Establishment, including Industry Partner Sites, within the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland) where live ICT services are provided. It is anticipated that the majority of call-outs will be for Reserve Forces and Cadet Association (RFCA) sites. A site point of contact will be provided to the supplier for ease of access to site and the cabinet to be inspected.
Early market engagement
Any work that’s already been done
Existing team The role of the rapid response electrical resource is to allow safe access to a network equipment cabinet by MoD Managed Service Partners (MSP) to restore live services in the event of a loss of service (Major Incident). The supplier will therefore be required to provide dedicated back office staff to manage tasks in a timely manner, provide a daily tracker, attend daily calls and raise planned outage requests (established process in place). MSPs will be called out to restore services on receipt of a satisfactory EICR or VI++ report (via email) by the Authority.
Current phase Not applicable
Working arrangements The requirement is for a rapid response electrical resource to be available to attend an average of 12 call-outs per week, Monday to Friday between 0800-1700 and be on-site within a maximum of 72hrs of being tasked (Occasionally a 24hr response may be requested). Remote sites may require overnight stays and travelling out of hours. Follow up visits may be required for remediation that cannot be completed during initial visits. Back office staff will be required to support and manage tasks, produce a daily tracker and attend daily calls with the client to review tasks.
Security clearance SC clearance minimum; DV clearance would be an advantage for a small number of sites but not essential.
Additional information
Additional terms and conditions
Skills and experience
Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.
Skills and experience
Essential skills and experience
Ability to deliver to MoD timescales based on an anticipated 4 incidents requiring attendance per week.
Evidence of suitably qualified engineers – the Inspector/QA are to have demonstrable evidence of skills, experience, knowledge, attitude and training.
Evidence of previous Inspection & Testing work, to a recognised standard, on similar types of installation.
Provision of back office staff to support and manage tasks. A daily call and provision a daily task tracker to the Authority is required.
Staff to be SC Cleared as a minimum.
Ability to provide cover for all sites across the UK and Norther Ireland within 72hrs (24hrs in an emergency).
Nice-to-have skills and experience Due to changing priorities, the supplier must be able to demonstrate the ability to flex to a changing workload and schedule.
How suppliers will be evaluated
How many suppliers to evaluate 3
Proposal criteria
Technical solution
Cultural fit
Value for money
Cultural fit criteria Evidence of previous work in a similar environment.
Payment approach Fixed price
Assessment methods
Written proposal
Work history
Evaluation weighting
Technical competence
65%
Cultural fit
5%
Price
30%
Questions asked by suppliers
Questions asked by suppliers
Supplier question Buyer answer
1. *PLEASE NOTE* This advert has been republished as the scope of the requirement has changed from 4 call-outs per week to 12 call-outs per week.
2. Can you please provide a list of all site locations (nearest town is sufficient for security
reasons) Sites are located throughout the UK including Northern Ireland. It is not feasible to release this list; however, extremes would be Highlands of Scotland to Cornwall and sites in between – approximately 4,500 locations.
3. Could you please clarify whether required service is a 24×7 or Mon-Fri 08:00-17:00 contract,
as there is some ambiguity in the description. An electrician is to be available Mon-Fri 0800-1700 for tasking, with the MOD department requesting tasks operating 24/7. The supplier would not be expected to monitor task requests outside these core hours.
4. If there are locations that require work permits, how will these be handled if there is urgent
work to be carried out? Will temporary ones be issued at these times?Where work permits are required, site representatives will make this known and the site rescheduled in accordance with work permit timescales unless an exemption/expediting of permit can be arranged.
5. Can you please clarify the extent of the service requirement as there appears to be two distinct requirements. EICR and testing is one service; Remedial electrical works is another. Can you therefore advise whether there is an incumbent supplier for the remedial works who will be retained (and our service be supplemental to their service), or if you
require a full remedial service? The requirement is to conduct a visual inspection to include a polarity and earth loop impedance test (ELIT) on cabinets that cannot be powered down, which will be in the majority of cases.
A full EICR is to be conducted in cases where the cabinet can be powered down or there has been a power failure.
Remediation is to be carried out by the supplier conducting the testing.
6. Are there Uninterruptable Power Supplies in each cabinet; are they appropriately maintained and is there a standard ‘run time’ that is anticipated in the event of a power loss? There is a mixture of cabinets with and without UPS. These UPS have not been adequately maintained on the whole and generally are expected to maintain power for 20 minutes to allow for the graceful shutdown of servers.
On most occasions where the UPS has been found to be the fault, the UPS has been removed from circuit as in most cases, there is no longer a need for cabinet mounted UPS devices.
7. Please confirm whether the service charges need to include Travel and Subsistence or are to be all inclusive. Generally, the service is to include all T&S; however, for sites that are in extreme outlying areas, additional reasonable T&S costs would be acceptable.
8. Do they hold previous EICR Reports for these sites? No – hence the requirement for this service.
9. Will the cost be supply and fit for remedials? Remedials will be an additional cost to the emergency response requirement. Log in to ask a question
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