asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will set out the process leading to the award of the contract for the clean-up of the Sellafield site; and whether Ministers at either the Department for Trade and Industry or the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs intend to direct or call in the final decision on the contract award from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. [HL636]

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) proposes to run a competition to select a parent body organisation for the Sellafield site licence company. This parent body will own the site licence company for the period of the contract.

The competition process will be in accordance with Office of Government Commerce (OGC) guidelines (and will be subject to review by the OGC at key stages); the Public Contracts Regulations 2006; and relevant EU procurement directives. In this context, an Official Journal of the European Union prior information notice has been issued and a contract notice is due to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union at the beginning of 2007.

The NDA's evaluation of proposals from bidders will be against robust and objective criteria relating to the role of a parent body. The development of specific criteria and their evaluation, which the NDA will also undertake, are commercially sensitive. The competition process will conclude when the NDA has selected the proposal offering best value for money (the most economically advantageous tender) in terms of meeting both Energy Act 2004 requirements, and the NDA strategy commitments to safety, security, environmental performance, socio-economic impact, and the delivery of nuclear decommissioning and operations. The NDA has consulted widely on the development of its competition strategy and award principles. Consultation has included workforce and the local community representatives as well as regulators (eg, the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate).

The NDA will in due course seek my department's endorsement that the competition process has been carried out correctly and fairly, and that the process of awarding the contract and the transition to the successful bidder for the Sellafield site licence company ownership can commence.