The subject of the contract is the custom machining of each of 18 sets of 10 splice plates, from blank parts supplied by F4E and according to measurements also supplied by F4E, and the subsequent delivery of each set individually to the QST fusion research site in Naka, Japan.

Each set of splice plates must be customised and delivered rapidly and individually to avoid unnecessary delay to the overall tokamak assembly. This is a fundamental requirement of the contract and tenders shall be assessed on the basis of the time required for each set. Moreover, the dates on which measurement data will be made available to the contractor cannot be foreseen in advance as this is dependent on the progress of the overall tokamak assembly.