Common Safety Method (CSM) Support for Electrical Safety

At Network Rail, safety is paramount. The safety of passengers and other members of the public using our infrastructure; the safety of our employees; and safety in our partnerships. Safety assurance is essential in a health and safety management system, checking that risk controls are effective and being used. It helps us to continually improve and work towards achieving our vision of getting everyone home safe every day.

Through the Electrical Safety Delivery (ESD) Programme, we strive to deliver improved electrical and workforce safety performance, to create a more efficient railway and to increase safety compliance with the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EaWR). Our safety assurance programme helps us to make informed decisions. It provides us with the management information we need that relates to our safety, technical and engineering performance.

To support the ESD Programme, we engage with specialist third-party organisations to provide Common Safety Method (CSM) support.

This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to inform potential suppliers of a future procurement opportunity for a CSM support partner; assess market capability and interest to provide specialised skills and services; and invite interested parties to express their interest in participating in a future tender process.

The following is a high-level overview of the scope to be undertaken by the supplier, which shall include but not be limited to the following:

• Support Hazard Identification (HazID) workshops for those work items that are deemed not CSM significant
• Support HazID workshops and produce safety cases for those work items that are deemed CSM

significant

• Provide updates to programme-level system definitions
• Provide support for human factors assessments at programme/workstream and network level as required.

Duration of contract

We envisage that the project will run for four (4) years.

Project Indicative Timetable:

Network Rail is looking to commence a tender process in the third quarter of the calendar year 2024 for these requirements. The tender will be conducted through the Network Rail e-tendering system, BravoNR and advertised via Find a Tender.

Objectives

The key objectives of this PIN are:

• Assess market capability and interest to provide specialised skills and services required for CSM support.
• Seek additional information from the market to help inform the future tender.

Participation and Responding to this PIN

To assist Network Rail in the process, interested parties are encouraged to express their interest by sending an email to [email protected] by Friday 9th August titling your email ‘Network Rail Common Safety Method PIN’. Following receipt of your email, we will send you a short questionnaire with questions that will help us to assess market interest and capability. We would request that you populate this response template and return it to [email protected] by 16th of August 2024.

Network Rail may request further engagement with suppliers who respond to this PIN, where clarifications would help provide further insight to the response already provided.

All information requested in this PIN will remain confidential and will not be disclosed to any third parties.

Further details regarding participating in any future procurement process, including the criteria for selection and award, will be provided in the contract notice, which will be published at a later date.

This PIN does not constitute a call for competition, and it is not a prerequisite for participation in any subsequent tender process.

Network Rail Infrastructure Limited looks forward to engaging with the market and receiving expressions of interest from potential suppliers. Additional information: The PIN is for informational purposes only. Network Rail Infrastructure Limited reserves the right to modify the procurement approach and timetable at any time. No liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of information contained in this notice. It does not bind Network Rail Infrastructure Limited to proceed with any future procurement described.