PIN: Net Zero Industry Wales - Addressing resourcing constraints in environmental permitting

Descriptions

Context and opportunity:Net Zero Industry Wales (NZIW) is a non-for-profit organisation supporting industrial decarbonisation in the region.In close collaboration with industry partners and public regulators, we are designing an innovative target operating model to address resourcing constraints in environmental planning and consenting organisations in Wales.The purpose of this model will be to mitigate avoidable and unnecessary delays in managing environmental permits for decarbonisation projects, with the aim of extending this approach to renewable energy generation projects (offshore & onshore).We now intend to pilot this target operating model in early 2024 to enable all key stakeholders to test it and learn from new ways of working (regulatory sandbox).The model will establish clearly defined safeguards, including segregation of duties, to support public transparency and accountability.We are looking to partner with services providers as we further develop this innovative model and prepare to run the first pilot, with the potential to scale up across Wales as a policy instrument.Requirements:On behalf of our members, we are looking to engage with service providers to collaborate with one or more delivery partner(s) with the right capabilities to support public regulators in Wales with environmental planning and consenting.The delivery partner(s) will be responsible for deploying specialist resources who will work under the direction, supervision and control of the public regulators.The delivery partner(s) will need to be able to provide specialist resources covering a range of skills in project management, stakeholder engagement, communications, as well as environmental and planning/permit expertise.These resources will support public regulators throughout the permitting lifecycle: pre-application advice, application pre-screening, interviews, technical and public consultations, etc.We envision deployment to be done in phases (e.g. a limited number of resources to be deployed for a trial period of 3 months), which will be extended depending on results.NZIW will fund these resources, which will be recharged to members. The delivery partner will contract directly with NZIW for access to these enabling services.Plan for initial engagement:The objective of this pre-market engagement exercise is to establish the optimum procurement route for driving these services and get feedback, input and support from the market as we develop the scope and share knowledge.This is an innovative piece of work. We are looking to establish collaborative working relationships with suppliers prior to the contract to capture their input and feedback. This EIO will be followed by a simple tender document which will require a formal response. Please note that potential conflicts of interest will be assessed on an ongoing basis during our market engagement.To express interest in this opportunity, please answer the following questions:1.Please provide your contact details2.Do you have any initial queries? (Please list here)3.Do you have any initial thoughts on the scope? (Up to 200 words)4.How confident are you that your organisation can meet the requirements? (Up to 200 words)5.What is your commitment to Wales and to this project? What would you bring to the table? (Up to 200 words)Please send your answers to info@nziw.wales. The project team will be in touch to arrange an exploratory meeting.NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=136985.