Removal of Mercury from Lighthouses around the Island of Ireland

Commissioners of Irish Lights

Mercury is a toxic substance and despite the many years of reliable service, there is increasing European and International legislation restricting its use, storage and transport. There is no other liquid medium currently available to replace mercury. Accordingly, alternative solutions are designed on a station by station basis to provide the required visual aid to navigation.
Over the next 6 years, Irish Lights will be carrying out engineering upgrade works to a number of high profile land or island based stations, most of which are designated as Listed Buildings in Northern Ireland or Protected Structures in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the engineering upgrade works, the mercury will be removed from the existing optic installations and will be replaced by a mechanical bearing to provide an alternative rotation mechanism. Only the liquid mercury will be removed and the remaining apparatus will be retained unchanged.

Deadline

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2020-08-13. The procurement was published on 2020-07-13.

Who? What? Where?
Procurement history
Date Document
2020-07-13 Contract notice
Contract notice (2020-07-13)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: Radioactive-, toxic-, medical- and hazardous waste services
Reference number: Lighthouse Mercury Removals
Short description:
Mercury is a toxic substance and despite the many years of reliable service, there is increasing European and International legislation restricting its use, storage and transport. There is no other liquid medium currently available to replace mercury. Accordingly, alternative solutions are designed on a station by station basis to provide the required visual aid to navigation. Over the next 6 years, Irish Lights will be carrying out engineering upgrade works to a number of high profile land or island based stations, most of which are designated as Listed Buildings in Northern Ireland or Protected Structures in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the engineering upgrade works, the mercury will be removed from the existing optic installations and will be replaced by a mechanical bearing to provide an alternative rotation mechanism. Only the liquid mercury will be removed and the remaining apparatus will be retained unchanged.
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Notice metadata
Original language: English 🗣️
Document type: Contract notice
Nature of contract: Services
Regulation: European Union, with participation of GPA countries
Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
Code: Radioactive-, toxic-, medical- and hazardous waste services 📦
Additional CPV: Mercury 📦
Place of performance
NUTS region: Éire/Ireland 🏙️

Procedure
Procedure type: Restricted procedure
Type of bid: Submission for all lots
Award criteria
The most economic tender

Contracting authority
Identity
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Awarding authority type: Regional or local Agency/Office
Awarding authority name: Commissioners of Irish Lights
Postal address: Harbour Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
Postal town: Dublin
Contact
Internet address: http://www.irishlights.ie 🌏
E-mail: zachary.colman-hoskins@irishlights.ie 📧
Phone: +353 12715400 📞
URL for documents: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=170288&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏
URL for participation: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=170288&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏

Reference
Dates
Date dispatched: 2020-07-13 📅
Submission deadline: 2020-08-13 📅
Publication date: 2020-07-16 📅
Start date: 2020-09-28 📅
End date: 2027-09-30 📅
Identifiers
Notice number: 2020/S 136-335024
OJ-S issue: 136

Object
Scope of the procurement
Short description:
Mercury is a toxic substance and despite the many years of reliable service, there is increasing European and International legislation restricting its use, storage and transport. There is no other liquid medium currently available to replace mercury. Accordingly, alternative solutions are designed on a station by station basis to provide the required visual aid to navigation.
Show more
Over the next 6 years, Irish Lights will be carrying out engineering upgrade works to a number of high profile land or island based stations, most of which are designated as Listed Buildings in Northern Ireland or Protected Structures in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the engineering upgrade works, the mercury will be removed from the existing optic installations and will be replaced by a mechanical bearing to provide an alternative rotation mechanism. Only the liquid mercury will be removed and the remaining apparatus will be retained unchanged.
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Estimated total value: 300 000 EUR 💰
Short description:
Irish Lights, along with the other lighthouse authorities around the world, have used mercury to rotate large revolving Fresnel lenses in lighthouse applications since the late 1800s. The system provided a near frictionless environment for the rotation of these large lenses. Mercury is a toxic substance and, despite the many years of reliable service, there is increasing European and International legislation restricting its use, storage and transport. While there is no immediate statutory requirement to remove mercury from lighthouses, it has been Irish Lights’ policy for a number of years that where major re-engineering capital projects are being carried out at lighthouses, the opportunity is taken to remove mercury from these installations. There is no other liquid medium currently available to replace mercury. Accordingly, alternative solutions are designed on a station by station basis to provide the required visual Aid to Navigation.
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Irish Lights undertook a project to trial a mechanical slew bearing solution using a redundant lens at Tory Island lighthouse, commencing in 2015. The lens at this lighthouse is a biform (two-tier) hyper-radial lens, one of the largest in service. The trial was carried out over a number of years to ensure reliable operation of the bearing solution. The success of this trial led to the re-establishment of the light utilising the existing Fresnel lens.
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Over the next 6 years, Irish Lights will be carrying out engineering upgrade works to a number of high profile land or island based stations, most of which are designated as listed buildings in Northern Ireland or protected structures in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the engineering upgrade works, the mercury will be removed from the existing optic installations and will be replaced by a mechanical bearing to provide an alternative rotation mechanism. Only the liquid mercury will be removed and the remaining apparatus will be retained unchanged.
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Estimated value excluding VAT: 300 000 EUR 💰

Legal, economic, financial and technical information
Conditions for participation
Suitability to pursue the professional activity: As stated in the procurement documents.

Procedure
Legal basis: 32014L0024
Time of receipt of tenders: 12:00
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: English 🗣️
Tender validity period: 6 months

Contracting authority
Identity
National registration number: N/a
Contact
Contact point: Zachary Colman-Hoskins
Internet address: www.irishlights.ie 🌏
Address of the buyer profile: https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Company/CompanyInformation/Index/337 🌏
Documents URL: http://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=170288&B=ETENDERS_SIMPLE 🌏

Complementary information
Review body
Name: Commissioners of Irish Lights
Postal address: Harbour Road
Postal town: Dublin
Postal code: A96 H00
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Phone: +353 12715400 📞
E-mail: procurement@irishlights.ie 📧
Internet address: www.irishlights.ie 🌏
Source: OJS 2020/S 136-335024 (2020-07-13)
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