Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Nov 2026, 14:46 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

#46323 - Wagon modules for long switches - PME

Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Transport Equipment & Vehicles (34)Repair & Maintenance (50) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£1,039,224pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 31 Oct 2028 · starts 1 Nov 2027
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

This is a pre-market engagement exercise for the procurement of wagon modules for long switches. Network Rail has a requirement for interchangeable Wagon Modules for the transport of switches.

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This is a pre-market engagement exercise for the procurement of wagon modules for long switches.

Network Rail has a requirement for interchangeable Wagon Modules for the transport of switches. This procurement will include the design and build of interchangeable modules for the existing 4x WASCOSA FEA-W Wagons to carry switches (from 25m to 75 metres (‘G’ to ‘J’ size)). FEA-W Wagons are container flat wagons that carry a variety of infrastructure materials using interchangeable modules and have been manufactured by WASCOSA. The base wagons themselves will not be modified. The interchangeable modules are used for different purposes for carrying like – track panels and sleepers; carrying switches; and for carrying rail.

CPV: Railway maintenance or service vehicles, and railway freight wagons · Reconditioning services of rolling stock · Repair and maintenance services of locomotives

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED buys Repair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment (CPV 5022), and who usually turns up

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Repair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment (CPV 5022) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

How often do SMEs win?
i

How often small and medium firms win.

Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 11 of 49 known-size awards · market: CPV 5022 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=10
22%10%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Greater London (authority’s region).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 5 of 13 known-location awards · market: CPV 5022 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=20
38%15%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 9 decided notices · market: CPV 5022 · UK-wide, n=8
148 days80 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 148 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 53 of 72 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 5022 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=21
74%71%

Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.

How many bids did past lots attract?

i

How many bids past lots received.

Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.

Past bids do not predict this tender.

Last 36 months.

This buyer14 lots with bid counts · all categories
7% had one bid
The market6 lots with bid counts · CPV 5022 · Greater London (authority’s region)
67% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid7% / 67%
Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
2–357% / 33%
Buyer: 8 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
4–636% / 0%
Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i

Where winning prices landed against estimates.

Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer6 lots with estimate and award · all categories
83% below estimate
The market7 lots with estimate and award · CPV 5022 · UK-wide
57% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate83% / 57%
Buyer: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 7 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 7 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17% / 43%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 7 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

What past awards tell you about each lot.

See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.

No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 346212 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.0m

This lot is listed as CPV 3462. The table above uses the notice category.

Expected competition
i

How many bids this lot may attract.

The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.

Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 28 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet21% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 28 similar lots
1 bid21%
6 of 28 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–336%
10 of 28 similar past lots received 2–3 (36%).
4–625%
7 of 28 similar past lots received 4–6 (25%).
7+18%
5 of 28 similar past lots received 7+ (18%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the award price may land.

The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

A past supplier may not bid again.

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Who could compete for this lot?

Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.

None is confirmed as a bidder.

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly. Contracts Finder contracts appear on the Retender Radar, not yet in these figures.
  • Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
  • Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
  • Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Utilities
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
5 Nov 2026, 14:46 GMT
Last source update
5 Nov 2026, 14:46 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-105293
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Railway maintenance or service vehicles, and railway freight wagonsReconditioning services of rolling stockRepair and maintenance services of locomotives
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b574 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

5 Nov 2026 → 1 Nov 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published11h ago
    5 Nov 2026, 14:46 GMT
  2. Today
    6 Nov 2026
  3. Market engagementin 14 days
    20 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT

    This is a pre-market engagement exercise to seek market's feedback on the capability and interest of suppliers to design, manufacture, test and support the introduction of removable Switch Carrying Wagon Modules that interface with the existing flatbed modules and mounting arrangements on the wagons.

    The PIN questionnaire related to this procurement can be located via

    networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk ↗

    Follow the "View Current Opportunities" on the Bravo login page. The

    PQQ ref no. is tbc

  4. Contract startsin 359 days
    1 Nov 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Nov 2026, 14:46 GMT
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PNZN-9524-VCQJ Waterloo General Office, London, London, SE1 8SWContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure