Sunderland Central Heat Network

Sunderland City Council (the "Council") is seeking interest and proposals from suitable economic operators to take forward the delivery of a large-scale heat network in the Sunderland City Centre area to serve a number of municipal, commercial and residential customers through an innovative contractual structure.

Following completion of the procurement process, the Council will enter into a joint development agreement ("JDA") with the selected bidder ("ESCO") under which the Council and the ESCO will work in partnership throughout the commercialisation phase of the project.

On completion of the commercialisation phase and a final investment decision having been approved by both parties, the project will move to the delivery stage and the Council proposes to enter into the "Delivery Contracts" for the project including:- - the project governance agreement ("PGA"), which shall govern the rights and relationship between the Council and the ESCO in delivering the project; - the connection and supply agreements for the anchor load properties (see below); and - any other relevant legal documents agreed during the commercialisation phase.

This procurement includes the opportunity to provide heat to the initial anchor load customers which includes South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, University of Sunderland, Gentoo, the Council, and other un-named Public Sector Contracting Authorities within the administrative boundary of The City of Sunderland.

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT Bidders may access the Confidentiality Agreement which is available when bidders express an interest in the opportunity in the project at https://www.nepo.org/ and NEPO Portal project reference DN693892 and signing and returning their signed Confidentiality Agreement via the NEPO Portal.

The Council will countersign and return the Confidentiality Agreement to the bidder and provide unrestricted access to the full set of Procurement Documentation.

The timescale for returning the Selection Questionnaire has been extended in accordance with Regulation 53(4) Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to take account of the requirement to enter into a Confidentiality Agreement to access the procurement documents.