Published date: 24 July 2020
Closed future opportunity - This means that a potential contract has passed its approach to market date. A buyer can choose to consider any supplier interest or convert this notice into an opportunity ready for live procurement.
Contract summary
Industry
Agricultural machinery - 16000000
Railway equipment - 34940000
Instruments for checking physical characteristics - 38400000
Lifting and handling equipment and parts - 42400000
Miscellaneous general and special-purpose machinery - 42900000
Earthmoving and excavating machinery, and associated parts - 43200000
Location of contract
London
Value of contract
£1
Procurement reference
TSC001-DN489057-06813775
Published date
24 July 2020
Approach to market date
2 November 2020
Contract start date
1 April 2021
Contract end date
31 March 2022
Contract is suitable for SMEs?
Yes
Contract is suitable for VCSEs?
Yes
Description
Network Rail has identified robotics as a potential avenue to improve the safety and efficiency of maintenance work. Personnel safety can be improved through reducing direct exposure to hazardous work by a robotic application, for example by automation of repetitive lifting activities. Additional benefits may include, improved frequency and coverage of maintenance inspections through the creation of autonomous or semi-autonomous tools. A longer-term aspiration is to develop a systems with the capability to conduct various sensing and maintenance tasks completely autonomously, however it is recognised that such a programme will take a long time to deliver.
The purpose of the current market engagement is to improve the awareness of market capabilities, such that any subsequent development project and trials can be conducted at pace. Network Rail aims to engage in these trials shortly after the analysis of this RFI. The aim of these trials would be to enable Network Rail to accelerate their capability and learning in this area and enable rapid tests and feedback from end users, such that benefits can be demonstrated through the delivery of incremental functionality.
Network Rail have currently prioritised three use cases, in order to drive the development of incremental functionality and demonstration of the benefits of robotic technology. The three identified use cases are:
1. Robotic Assistance for Tubular Stretcher Bars
2. Automated Inspection
3. Robotic Assistance for MMT Wet Bed Treatment
The programme will work alongside the system's end users to incrementally deliver value and enable rapid feedback to the product's development and management. Awareness of the longer-term goal, as well as programmes of work such as In2Track2 and In2Smart2 should help inform the design of the system and the requirements that will need to be requested from the market.
We will be holding an industry webinar on 3rd August 2020. You can find out more information and register at link which will be published in the Clarification Log Q&A's No 1.
More information
Spend profile
| Financial year | Budget |
|---|---|
| 2020/2021 | £1 |
Additional text
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Please register if not already registered, then "Express an Interest" for this project at link: https://procontract.due-north.com/Register which will then allow you to download the Response template. The project title is: Request for Information (RFI) Robotics for Rail.
Once the template is completed, please upload to the same link: https://procontract.due-north.com/Register
Closing date is 12noon 17th August 2020
About the buyer
Contact name
Raj Ragiwala
Address
3rd Floor The Pinnacle
170 Midsummer Boulevard
Milton Keynes
MK9 1BP
England
Telephone
+44 1908359999
raj.ragiwala@cp.catapult.org.uk
Website
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Approach to market date: 2 November 2020
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