Office for Product Safety and Standards- Construction Product Testing

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (”the customer”) has a potential requirement for the provision of “Construction Products Testing”.

The Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade (“DBT”) is the contracting authority responsible for meeting this anticipated requirement on behalf of the Customer. DBT intends to publish the Contract Notice week commencing 15th May 2023.

The full specification shall be provided with the tender documents, but it is expected to incorporate the testing of a variety of construction products to assess their fire safety, structural and thermal efficiency classifications.

The testing requirements will be broken down into four lots each covering a variety of construction products and test procedures. These lots are as follows:

Lot 1 – Insulation and Cladding – Testing will be used to verify the reaction to fire classifications and thermal efficiency of a range of products used both internally and externally as wall linings, pipe insulation, roofing and flooring. This will be done using the following standards and the relevant normative references contained within:

BS EN 13501-1:2018

BS EN 13501-5:2016

BS EN 12667:2001

Lot 2 – Electrical Cables – Testing will be used to verify the reaction to fire classifications of a range of products including power, control and communication cables. This will be done using the following standards and the relevant normative references contained within:

BS EN 13501-6:2018

Lot 3 – Plywood & Wood Based Materials – Testing will be used to verify the reaction to fire classifications and the structural/mechanical properties of a range of plywood and wood-based products for both internal and external use. This will be done using the following standards and the relevant normative references contained within:

BS EN 13501-1:2018

BS EN 13986:2004+A1:2015

Lot 4 – Smoke Control Dampers and Fire Dampers - Testing will be used to verify the resistance to fire classifications and the structural/mechanical properties of a range of smoke control and fire damper products. This will be done using the following standards and the relevant normative references contained within:

BS EN 13501-4:2016

BS EN 13501-3+A1:2009

It is anticipated the framework shall be for a period of 12 months.. The requirement has an estimated total value of £810,000 (exc-VAT). Each lot has the following estimated value:

Lot 1- £200,000

Lot 2- £150,000

Lot 3- £160,000

Lot 4- £300,000

Each lot will operate on a call-off basis. DBT reserves the right to not spend the full framework amount if it is not required.

Suppliers are also to be aware that DBT is seeking to implement a framework agreement for future wider construction product testing requirements.This is likely to include Reaction & Resistance to Fire Testing, Mechanical & Structural Testing, Energy Efficiency & Net Zero Testing and Chemical & Electrical Testing. To inform this, Market Engagement will be undertaken and a further contract notice will be imminently published with details on how to take part in this.

Should this future framework be launched prior to the end of this notice’s framework, then all testing requirements will be delivered via the future framework agreement. We expect the Market Engagement for the future requirements to take place in June / July 2023, ahead of a tender process beginning in September / October 2023, though these dates are indicative at this stage.