Manufactured Products Metrology Equipment

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 new technology could result in a lack of technical compatibility and disproportionate cost/risk of alternatives. This is supported by documented evidence:

Established Compatibility:

o Existing Hexagon equipment and software (PC-DMIS, SpatialAnalyzer) are integral to existing Sellafield manufactured product organisation (MPO) programs and automation routines. Introducing alternative platforms would require extensive reprogramming, validation, and retraining, creating significant cost and delivery risk. Such an impact on Sellafield manufacturing operations is considered to be disproportionate given the nature of the award.

Performance Assurance:

o Hexagon provides verified maximum permissible error data in line with ISO standards, ensuring measurement traceability and compliance.

Suitably Qualified and Experienced Persons (SQEP) Constraints:

o Current resource limitations and training capacity prevent the introduction of new primary software platforms without impacting critical delivery.

Risk and Cost of Alternatives:

o Diversifying to other suppliers would involve a long learning curve, additional validation studies, and potential disruption to established workflows, resulting in disproportionate cost and operational risk.