Assessing the cost reduction potential and competiveness of novel (next generation) UK carbon capture technology (contract extension)

BEIS requires evidence based analytical and technical studies on State of the Art and next generation capture technologies in order to inform future innovation spending programmes and to shape the future policy direction for capture technologies in the Power and Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) respectively. The contract required extension to include evidence gathering on biomass CCS (the original ITT scope included the prospect of a biomass benchmark but this wasn't deliverable within the original £150k.

Additional information: • The original contract start and end dates were: 04/01/2017 to 30/09/2107 • The original value of the contract was: £150,000 • This is the first variation • No change to contract end date • The new contract value: £225,000 (increase of 50%) • The reason for the variation: To include evidence gathering on biomass CCS • Original ITT scope included prospect of a biomass benchmark but this wasn't deliverable within the original £150k.

The option of competitive tendering was deemed not desirable because: o Having two contractors, one looking at CCS and one at BECCS, would give a significant risk that the benchmarks will not be consistent and comparable between the two studies. Consequently BEIS could not compare the studies to formulate evidence-based policy on CCS and BECCS, therefore competition is absent for technical reasons.