The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has adopted a charter to help procurement teams in the industry cooperate and to make it easier and cheaper for vendors to enter the supply chain.

The initiative follows the NDA’s decision in 2008 to target collaborative procurement as an area that can help it become a "market of choice" for suppliers.

The NDA has a spend of more than £2.8 billion a year, with about £1.3 billion going to tier two suppliers.

Signatories to the charter agree to apply principles aimed at underpinning good working practices, better communications and mutually beneficial relationships throughout all levels of the supply chain.

The charter will be forwarded throughout the companies that operate its 19 sites (Site Licence Companies) and suppliers involved in contract work.

Ron Gorham, NDA’s head of supply chain optimisation, said: “The document recognises that successful sustainable business is based on trust and mutual respect.”

Suppliers including Costain, Hosokawa Micron, Kitsons Environmental, Metal Spinners Group, Penny Hydraulics, Promanex, Nuvia and Bake Dugan Nuclear have already signed.

The NDA also aims to provide more consistency for suppliers in parts of tenders such as terms and conditions, so that suppliers only provide information once, rather than for each tender, therefore reducing costs.


It added that collaborative procurement could bring together spend currently on multiple contracts and increase buying power and raised the possibility of developing a common purchasing system for different sites.