Official UK procurement notice
Waste Vitrification Plant Distributed Control System Critical Spares
Authority: Sellafield Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSupply of critical spares from the original equipment manufacturer for the waste vitrification plant (WVP) facility's distributed control system (DCS). The existing DCS was originally manufactured by ABB Ltd.
Due to age and imminent obsolescence, procurement of critical spares will give resilience to the WVP which intern protects the highly active liquor (HAL) stream programme/deliverables.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 18 Feb 2026, 14:15 GMT
- Last source update
- 8 Apr 2026, 15:20 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-032041- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065727Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons; Additional Repeat Extension Partial Replacement
- Published justification
It has been determined that in current circumstances that competition is absent for technical reasons pursuant to Schedule 5 paragraph 6(a)(b) and 7(a)(b) of the Procurement Act 2023. Justification for the award is as follows:
A change in supplier would result in the contract authority receiving goods that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing works. Introducing unproven spares could result in failure of the existing distributed control system (DCS) and therefore impact the waste vitrification plant's (WVP) operational availability.
It is essential that the spares are compatible with the existing DCS within the facility and ABB Ltd as the original equipment manufacturer can manufacture spares for its system which are proven to be compatible with the existing system. Changing suppliers from ABB Ltd could require significant redesign, testing, and validation and any compatibility issues would result in the loss of WVP's ability to operate. Such an impact on operations is clearly disproportionate given the nature of the award.
- Risks
None
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
27 Feb 2026 → 8 Apr 2026 · 2 dates- Standstill ends242 days ago27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Notice published202 days ago8 Apr 2026, 15:20 BST
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 Feb 2026- Transparency notice published18 Feb 2026, 14:15 GMTUK5
- Contract award notice published18 Feb 2026, 14:37 GMTUK6
- Contract signature expected18 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published8 Apr 2026, 15:20 BSTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABB Limited18 Mar 2026 – 30 Jul 2026 | £977,689 | 30 Jan 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Waste Vitrification Plant Distributed Control System Critical Spares · ABB Limited
- Signed
- 9 Mar 2026
- Value
- £977,689
- Period
- 10 Mar 2026 – 30 Jul 2026
- Status
- active
No agreed KPIs: Contract is below the £5m threshold set out within 52(1) of the Procurement Act 2023. It has been determined that a suite of KPIs are not required for this contract. However, Sellafield will measure delivery dates of the spares against dates as detailed in the contract.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- ABB LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender