A new invitation to tender for the first phase of the construction of a marine renewables base at Lyness is being advertised by Orkney Islands Council this week.

The Council’s requirements were not able to be met in the recent tendering exercise.

Chief Executive Albert Tait said: "Retendering for the project means that we can start afresh under the Council's new procurement process and run the exercise as a single stage procurement process.

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"This means that firms will be asked to return a pre-qualification questionnaire as part of their tender application. Rolling it into a one stage exercise widens the scope in terms of the number of firms who can submit a tender. We expect we can complete the evaluation process and award the tender within six weeks of the deadline for requesting a tender package.

"Starting afresh also means that we can be sure we are getting in tenders which reflect the current market.

"There is significant interest in this high profile project from companies in Orkney and further afield and we are confident that we can complete the new tendering process very quickly and progress this exciting project and get down to marketing the facility to the marine renewables industry."

The closing date for contractors to request a tender package is 5pm Tuesday August 10.

(GK)