C22009 Ashford Live Fire Specialist Market Engagement

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (the "Authority") is currently in the process of undertaking a Fast Track Competition under Lot 2 (South East) of the Southern Construction Framework (SCF) for the purpose of appointing the Main Contractor responsible for the delivery of the Pre-Construction Phase (RIBA Stages 3 and 4) of the Ashford Redevelopment Project. The Project's key deliverables are: • Refurbishment of the existing Fire Station; • Class A (Carbonaceous) Non-Containerised Life Fire Training Facility; • Support Building to provide facilities for decant of existing station during refurbishment retain operational continuity; and • Secure RTC compound In accordance with the published Pre-Construction Services Agreement, the Live Fire Specialist will be appointed by the Main Contractor, upon recommendation from the Authority. With the above in mind, the Authority is seeking expressions of interest from Live Fire Specialists to participate in an Early Market Engagement process with the view of: a. Testing the refined core (minimum) technical requirements; b. Assessing the market's ability and capacity to deliver against the refined requirements; c. Identifying key cost lines and pricing considerations which will need to be taken into account by the Authority when assessing the estimated overall whole lifecycle cost of the Live Fire Training Facility; d. Confirming the viability of the current Programme milestones relating to the delivery of the Live Fire Training Facility, and; e. Understanding the level of support that can be provided by the Live Fire Specialist, working collaboratively with the Main Contractor and the Authority's wider Project Team to ensure the successful and timely delivery of the Ashford Redevelopment Project.

Additional information: The Early Market Engagement process will be undertaken via the Authority's electronic tendering suite (Kent Business Portal - ProContract), which is run by Proactis / Due North. The site can be accessed by visiting www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk and instructions on how to register are contained therein. Registration is free of charge. The use of the Kent Business Portal - ProContract is compulsory and will be the main means of communication and exchange of documents between the Authority and interested suppliers, although the Authority reserves the right to communicate and/or exchange documents by other means. All communication will be managed via the Kent Business Portal - ProContract and interested suppliers must use the "discussions" link on the portal to submit their queries. For the purpose of enabling the market to understand in greater detail the Project requirements, associated constraints and dependencies, the Authority will be making available to all interested suppliers redacted site plans as well as floor plans which have been drafted specifically in relation to the Live Fire Training Facility. Such documents will be made available subject to the satisfactory completion of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (template document can be found attached to this Notice). The completed NDA must be submitted electronically on the Kent Business Portal - ProContract (website link provided above) Suppliers who are interested in participating in this early market engagement process can express an interest by submitting a completed version of the attached Early Market Engagement Questionnaire to the Authority's Project team on the Kent Business Portal - ProContract (website link provided above). The deadline for submitting the completed Early Market Engagement Questionnaire is 17:00 on Thursday 26th May 2022. The Authority will also reserve the right to hold virtual market engagement meetings with those suppliers who are able to meet the core (minimum) technical requirements. This will enable the Authority's Project Team to obtain further details on the technologies available, as well as the opportunity to discuss other commercial matters. Please kindly be advised that the publication of this Early Engagement Notice document in no way commits Kent Fire and Rescue Service or any of its advisers, contractors and/or agents to commence any subsequent procurement exercise to award any contract.