Maintenance and Development of the Dounreay Data Management System

Location

Description

The Dounreay Data Management System (DMS) is an existing bespoke developed integrated Data Management System which records the consignment, movement, processing and disposal of all solid waste on the Dounreay site ensuring that NRS Dounreay has an audit trail of the verification of waste packages from cradle to grave. The DMS was designed to replace paper-based tracking systems. Data is entered by users or read directly from assay systems, with built-in validation to help reduce the possibility of data entry error. There is a fully integrated approval process including electronic signatures. The scope of this requirement is for the provision of support and maintenance for the NRS Dounreay DMS. This maintenance service must maintain the availability of DMS for the users and ensure that threats and events are proactively managed and mitigated appropriately so there is no detrimental impact to the system and its data. The support service will include: • Availability of a help desk, to log and deal with support calls, with an appropriate Information Technology Service Management (ITSM solution for tracking tickets against agreed Service Level Agreements (SLAs). • Backups of the database. • Repair of defects and issues. • Planned quarterly updates to the servers with the latest stable version of Debian Linux, including security patching. • Un-planned updates as required if critical vulnerabilities have been identified. • Maintenance of all DMS specific related software. • Change management approval and audit trail. • System Upgrades. • Mobilisation and demobilisation for any transition periods required between contracts. Additional to the maintenance of DMS is the requirement for the Consultant to demonstrate the capability to develop and implement new functionality and propose enhanced capabilities to streamline activities which will be scoped and agreed separately under a contract change notice. The DMS is a ‘live’ system and is reactive to changes that will be carried out throughout the decommissioning life cycle of the Dounreay Site. As operational and compliance processes change the DMS will be required to be modified.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• None found

Legal Justification

This a direct award for the purposes of the Procurement Act 2023 and is being made pursuant to Paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 (Single Supplier - absence of competition for technical reasons). NRS Dounreay considers that, due to technical reasons, only the incumbent supplier can deliver the required services and that no reasonable alternatives exist. The Dounreay Data Management System (DMS) is a highly bespoke, business-critical system developed and configured specifically to meet NRS Dounreay’s operational, safety, and regulatory requirements. The solution incorporates complex integrations with operational plant systems, bespoke data structures, and functionality evolved over a number of years. The incumbent supplier holds unique and irreplaceable technical knowledge of the system architecture, configuration, integrations, and underlying design. This knowledge is not fully documented to a level that would enable a third party to assume delivery without significant additional effort and risk. Any alternative supplier would be required to undertake substantial reverse engineering, knowledge transfer, and revalidation activities to understand and safely operate the system in a live nuclear environment. This would result in: • disproportionate technical and operational risk to the continuity of critical waste management activities; • unacceptable delays to service delivery and ongoing system development; • significant duplication of cost and effort; and • potential impacts on compliance and system assurance. Given the above, the Authority considers that competition is absent for technical reasons and that no reasonable alternative or substitute exists which could deliver the required services within acceptable levels of risk, cost, and time.

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. **