Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Analyst Support.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority is a non-departmental government body carrying out research into the potential of nuclear fusion as a future source of energy. Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun, can play a big part in our carbon-free energy future. Our scientists and engineers are working with partners around the globe to develop fusion as a new source of cleaner energy for tomorrow's power stations.

Research into fusion power presents UK industry with many business opportunities. In addition to winning contracts for products and services, simply meeting the technical and quality demands of fusion projects can create long-term competitive advantages for your company. Fusion research in the UK is conducted by UKAEA at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire, one of the world's leading fusion research laboratories. The centre is home to the UK's fusion research including the MAST (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) experiment as well as JET (the Joint European Torus), currently the world's largest fusion device. UKAEA has close links with other European and international fusion laboratories and the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER) under construction at Cadarache, France.

UKAEA are seeking to establish from the market place details of availability and expertise for support with mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering analysis projects that include; FEA, Structural Analysis, Pressure vessel and Pipework Engineering design, CFD, Thermal Analysis including high heat flux and cryogenics.

UKAEA are looking to establish framework contracts with external engineering resource providers, who could provide this support. The extent of support envisaged is for short term resource requests, typically less than 6 months in duration. The framework contracts will identify individuals who might provide support and their applicable hourly rates. Initially UKAEA's intention is to agree framework contracts for a 12-month trial period.

Once a framework contract is in place, the resource provider(s) will receive notification of potential tasks from a UKAEA work package manager via a 'job card' summarising the task requirements. It is expected that the resource provider will then contact the work package manager to establish the detailed requirements for the task. This may require a face to face meeting, but a phone conversation may be sufficient to agree an estimate for the hours required to complete the task. For short -term task (eg tasks with a duration of less than 50 hours), an arrangement to pay for evaluation time may be agreed (eg a nominal amount equivalent to 5 hours effort).

This PIN (Prior Information Notice) is being issued to notify interested companies of the UKAEA's requirements. Interested parties should respond to the contact detailed in the notice, outlining their expertise in the required fields and examples of similar work that has been undertaken in the past 3 years. Contracts to be IR35 compliant.