Design Services Alliance to continue £1.5billion deal with Sellafield Limited
The UK government has approved the continuation of a key contract for engineering design and safety case services at the Sellafield site, in West Cumbria.
The Design Services Alliance (DSA), a 15-year contract with a total contract value of £1.5 billion, will continue into its 3rd 5-year tranche from 2022 to 2027.
The alliance was first set up in 2012 with Sellafield Ltd as an alliance partner working as one team alongside AXIOM (a 4 entity joint venture comprising Assystem, Jacobs, Mott MacDonald and Progressive (itself, a Aecom and Cavendish Nuclear joint venture)).
Since then, working with the broader supply chain, the alliance has delivered cashable, non-cashable and future benefits totalling more than £220 million.
So, for every pound of the nearly £1 billion spent so far through the alliance, the government owned Sellafield Ltd has received 22 pence back.
In addition, the alliance has helped to make Sellafield safer sooner by cutting 744 months from hazard reduction schedules.
Reacting, Ian Belger, head of design engineering and safety case at Sellafield Ltd, said:
“This is great news for the individuals and teams working in the DSA and a recognition of their contribution and effort.
“Our alliance with the DSA partners gives Sellafield Ltd access to a range of key capabilities and reach back into some of the world’s largest and most capable nuclear industry contractors.”
Last year an external review concluded that the alliance was well placed to continue meeting Sellafield Ltd’s ongoing need for engineering design and safety case services.
It also urged greater integration with other delivery frameworks as part of a whole lifecycle approach to delivering optimum outcomes.
New ways of working are currently being developed and tested across the alliance, including early contractor input under the Alliance Designed Delivery pilot projects and joint incentivisation arrangements.
The aim is to develop these innovations into a standard part of the alliance’s ‘business as usual’ toolkit in order to improve end-to-end delivery.
Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash
