Mono Rail Track and Sorting System

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) awarded a contract to Innova Systems for the replacement of the mono rail and sorting system at the Swansea Laundry Production Unit in the financial year 2023/24. NWSSP was notified on 17th July 2024 that Innova Systems had entered into administration and as a consequence were unable to install the system in Swansea laundry.Mono rail track profiles are proprietary to each supplier and cannot be interchanged. Therefore, the installer of the Innova track would need to acquire the rights to use Innova’s track profile, which also encompasses the design for the Swansea track installation.

Monorail UK acquired the rights to use the Innova profile and is now the sole company authorized to install the track in the Swansea laundry. Before committing to the installation, Monorail UK conducted a validation exercise on the existing design. This review identified several issues, including conflicts between the monorail route and the high-beam roof structure.

Because the track profile is unique and incompatible with other systems, Monorail UK holds exclusive rights to use the ‘Innova’ profile. Engaging any other supplier would require replacing the existing track owned by NWSSP, incurring additional costs. Therefore NWSSP is looking to complete a Direct Award to Monorail UK Under Schedule 5.5 a & b of the Procurement Act 2023:

- due to a particular supplier having intellectual property rights or other exclusive rights, only that supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and

- there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.