Diesel Rotary UPS Replacement at two FCDO UK locations (London and Milton Keynes)

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office ("FCDO") intend to engage the market in relation to this project as part of market engagement activity in accordance with Regulation 40 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The purpose of this notice is to initiate market engagement and is not being used as a call for competition. This notice is intended to:

1. Inform the market of the FCDO's requirements, enabling potential contractors to better understand the scope of the requirement and the approach to the procurement process; and

2. Provide detail of the market engagement event which will be hosted online on 28 June 2024 (date may be subject to change).

The project may be split into 2 lots. Lot 1 (KCS) estimated value of c£10-15m and Lot 2 (HSP) estimated value of c£20-25m

The operation of all the departments and services located at KCS and HSP requires electrical power for the most critical of systems to be provided without interruption.

This project seeks to change the existing DRUPS critical electrical infrastructure to:

• In the case of KCS a UPS that provides power via a battery system that provides power to the NO BREAK assets.
• Diesel generators that provides power to SHORT BREAK & NO BREAK assets power demands.

The works involves the removal of existing diesel rotary uninterruptible power supplies (DRUPS) and the replacement of them with traditional diesel generators and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system's along with the supporting cabled infrastructure, fire protection & detection, mechanical cooling services, control and monitoring system.

In the case of HSP

• A BESS system that provides stored power to the NO BREAK assets via battery technology.
• A diesel generator that provides power to SHORT BREAK & NO BREAK assets power demands
• Install 2 new 11kV switchgear panels with modern intelligent controls. The existing main electrical building will be extended.
• New mechanical cooling provided to the four main data rooms in building 38 with free cooling for energy savings.

The works involve the removal of existing DRUPS and the replacement of them with traditional diesel generators and battery energy storage system's (BESS) along with the supporting cabled infrastructure, fire protection & detection, mechanical cooling services, PLC control and monitoring system. Additionally, a new 11kV central facility will be constructed and installed as part of these works, and a new critical cooling system to one of the data centre buildings on campus.

The FCDO are looking for Contractors with experience in this specialist field and with a proven track record of projects dealing with key critical infrastructure of this nature and this scale.

Case studies and in-house technical expertise will need to be demonstrated in terms of scale, technology and similar critical environments (e.g. financial, Government, or data centre)

See also F01: Prior information notice (prior information only)

Notice reference: 2024/S 000-018476

Additional information:

This notice is being published to advertise a forthcoming early market engagement webinar, which will be held on 28 June 2024. The Webinar is scheduled for a 10:30am start and will last approximately 1 hour. Suppliers wishing to attend the forthcoming market engagement event should register their interest by email to jon.meadows@fcdo.gov.uk. You will be sent details of the event and how to join. For the avoidance of doubt, this market approach is not part of a formal procurement process. The FCDO reserves the right to change the process at any stage and to undertake this procurement using alternative routes. Participation or non-participation in this market engagement exercise shall not prevent any supplier participating in the future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of this exercise shall place any supplier at an advantage in a procurement process.