Tenders Are Invited For Marine Network Support Services

The Met Office, as the Authority, intends to put in place a Framework Agreement 1for the provision of Marine Network Support Services. The framework, it is intended, will provide the Met Office with the ability to better plan when the maintenance of our network of buoys (open ocean and continental) occurs, as well as a mechanism by which to charter suitable vessels capable of operating in open ocean locations off the continental shelf and sites in shallower and inshore waters to the west and north of the UK. The open ocean operating plan is to visit the northern (K4, K5, K7) and southern (Brittany, K1, K2) sites in alternating years. Those sites in shallower waters, Celtic Sea and E1, will be visited when required by the programme and testing. The Met Office buoy network is always evolving and will change over time. Starting with a visit to the southern buoys in 2024, the Met Office requires a supplier or suppliers to visit these sites and provide buoy and mooring deployment and maintenance services.