Procurement at NRS Dounreay
Source: gov.uk (2025-12-10)

Information about how to work with Dounreay as a supplier.

Opportunities

Commercial pipelines provide a forward look at potential commercial activity at NRS Dounreay. The information presented is for reference only and reflects the Dounreay anticipated procurement pipeline.

Dounreay makes no commitment that:
- the requirements identified in this table will be procured
- the annual value of any contract will be as stated
- the timing of any future procurement exercises will be as stated
- the procurement route identified will be the procurement route utilised
Dounreay cannot guarantee that these opportunities will be available to all suppliers.

Dounreay has a number of framework agreements, further information is given in the Dounreay framework suppliers file.

Dounreay advertises its procurement opportunities on the following platforms:
- Find high value contracts in the public sector (https://www.gov.uk/find-tender)
- Contracts finder (CF) (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder)
- The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority OneNDA eCommercial System (https://one-nda.force.com/s/Welcome)
Further information on the wider opportunities to work with the NDA, can be found on the NDA web pages (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/nuclear-decommissioning-authority/about/procurement).

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)

Dounreay wishes to support the government’s SME agenda, and uses government targets to measure performance.

Supply chain charter

Dounreay has given its commitment to the supply chain charter for NDA sites. The supply chain charter aims to foster good working relations across the NDA group’s supply chain, with all parties signing up to a set of principles encouraging mutually beneficial and rewarding relationships.

The standard conditions for doing business with Dounreay is described in the attachments above and apply when an order or contract has been issued without any specific conditions attached. Typically these are orders for low value goods and services. Where specific conditions of contract have been attached to an order or contract they will take precedence over these standard conditions.

Relationship with the supply chain

The Commercial team at Dounreay is committed to ensuring strong working relationships with the Supply Chain. The Dounreay Supply Chain Newsletter will help us to keep the Supply Chain informed on current events on site and will be published on a quarterly basis. Read the newsletters here: The Dounreay Supply Chain Newsletters - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-dounreay-supply-chain-newsletters)

LINC with Dounreay

LINC with Dounreay is our initiative to enable and promote commercial collaborations between SME for selected procurement opportunities below the supplies and services threshold for sub-central government authorities, details of which can be found here: Guidance: Thresholds (HTML) - GOV.UK (https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fprocurement-act-2023-guidance-documents-define-phase%2Fguidance-thresholds-html&data=05%7C02%7C%7C065767ee96d3469deac308de2b390401%7C567f648e37f44490a4882a8c419baaba%7C0%7C0%7C638995721055664581%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zp8u5zzYQkROdUVy3Ura%2FVkKoFccBmn5voIW00O6zd4%3D&reserved=0)”

All suppliers must be pre-registered for LINC with Dounreay before they are able to submit a tender. Companies who are not SMEs will not be able to tender directly for any opportunities however, they are encouraged to work in collaboration with SMEs and form part of a SME led submission.

In the OneNDA eCommercial system (https://one-nda.force.com/s/Welcome#), search for record reference C10546 ‘LINC with Dounreay Registration’ where a registration application form can be downloaded. The form should be completed and submitted along with the supporting documentation as outlined in the registration application form.

Suppliers can register at any time. Suppliers can choose to tender for as many opportunities as they want. Collaborations between suppliers are encouraged and lists of suppliers can be found at the bottom of this page.

Registered companies

As part of the registration process, companies/businesses will be categorised into one of the following:

Category 1 - SME
- Those companies that meet the strict EU definition - companies that have less than 250 employees and an annual turnover of less than 50 million euros (approximately £45 million) or annual balance sheet not exceeding 43 million euros (approximately £38 million)
Category 2 - Supplier
- Those companies that meet the category 1 criteria but who are part of a larger group of companies which collectively exceed those thresholds
Both category 1 and 2, are eligible to participate directly in LINC.

Supporting companies
- Those companies who do not meet the EU definition of an SME in terms of numbers of employees and turnover or balance sheet thresholds
Supporting companies are not permitted to participate directly, but may participate as part of a SME led proposal.

The documents above contain the details of all companies who have registered for LINC with Dounreay so far.

Procurement reform

The Procurement Act 2023 is an important piece of legislation which apply to all public bodies including the NDA Group. Please see an update for our supply chain on the procurement legislation update in the attachments above.

Contacting us

If your business wishes to contact us if you have processes or engineering technologies that could support Dounreay’s work, or if you have any enquiries or issues about working with Dounreay, then please contact our commercial team via xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)