Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), European Train Control System (ETCS) GRIP 4 -8 Delivery, Market Consultation No. 2 - Capacity, Route to Market, Contract & Commercial

Overview: Further to the issue of Prior Information Notice 2021/S 000-011765 on 26th May 2021, and the one-to-one sessions held with suppliers week commencing 21st June 2021, Network Rail now wishes to hold a second phase of market engagement which will take place over the time period 2nd September to 17th September 2021. Briefing Pack: This second Market Engagement exercise will launch with the release of a briefing pack by Network Rail on 2nd September 2021 via BravoNR. This briefing pack will provide the market with an overview of TRU, the potential future requirement for ETCS capability under the programme, and current thinking on how this capability may be procured. Questionnaire: The briefing pack will also pose a series of questions to the market to seek feedback on subjects such as capacity to deliver ETCS works, the possible route to market and the intended contracting mechanism and commercial model. Suppliers will be asked to consider these questions and provide written responses to Network Rail via BravoNR by no later than 5pm on 9th September 2021. One-to-one Sessions: Furthermore, suppliers will be asked to book a one-to-one session with Network Rail week commencing 13th September 2021 to discuss its written responses. These sessions will be held via Microsoft Teams. The timeframe for booking a one-to-one session also concludes at 5pm on 9th September 2021, and these too should be booked via the Bravo NR messaging facility. For this session, please come prepared to discuss your written responses. Following review of the written responses – Network Rail may choose to focus on certain topics from the questionnaire at the one-to-one sessions. These topics will however be consistent across all suppliers. Please note that attendance at the one-to-one sessions is limited to 8 persons per supplier – attendees and their titles should be confirmed to Network Rail at the time of booking the session. If your organisation is interested in participating in this second market engagement phase, please confirm this via the BravoNR messaging facility by 5pm on 31st August 2021 and monitor BravoNR for the briefing pack release on 2nd September 2021.