Our client, a newly formed multinational Joint Venture (JV), bid to deliver the civil engineering works for the Coire Glas hydro pumped storage project
The project, procured by Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE), is a key component of the wider decarbonisation of the national grid. We provided a work winning, whose work included strategic bid direction and review, bid management and technical solution writing to our client throughout the tender process.
The opportunity
Coire Glas hydro pumped storage scheme will provide energy and balancing capacity, drawing electricity from the grid when production is high and releasing it during energy shortfall periods. This will be a crucial part of a renewable power grid, levelling off the peaks and troughs of renewable generation.
SSE began procurement for the civil engineering works for the Coire Glas project in 2021. The scope of this opportunity included the design and construction of works to meet the contract requirements and the Scottish Government’s Section 36 planning conditions. This required a high level of technical competency, as well as close collaboration with SSE and the other contractors to deliver such a complex and expensive project efficiently.
Specifically included within the civil engineering works was design, procurement, construction and commissioning of the following elements of the facility:
- civils/dam
- underground works
- civil works for mechanical and electrical contract
- electrical, mechanical and hydro-mechanical plant.
EiB approach and involvement
We provided strategic input, review and challenge, ensuring our client’s solution aligned with SSE’s project objectives of a technically competent and regulatory compliant bid.
Courtney Hynes managed the bid, while the responses were developed by EiB writers alongside an internal writer. The team provided the following support to our client, ensuring the production of a high-quality submission:
- robust review and challenge of the proposed delivery models to develop an innovative delivery solution
- production of all tender documents from pre-qualification through to final invitation to tender (ITT) submission.
The contract required close collaboration with SSE, and the bid programme involved continuous meetings to establish this relationship and demonstrate collaborative capabilities alongside technical competencies and regulatory maturity. We assisted in:
- development of the JV’s strategy for engagement with the client team through dialogue
- managing weekly dialogue workshops/presentations with SSE for over three months
- coaching, mentoring, workshops and team-based exercises
- incorporating changes required to the developing drafts as part of the solution.
Throughout the bid, our team continuously challenged our client, ensuring we provided SSE with the highest quality solution possible in the final submission.
Success and outcomes
Our client worked with their extensive supply chain to develop an alliance model that worked together with aligned goals and objectives to efficiently deliver the bid. This was successful at pre-qualification stage, reaching ITT stage.