Find a TenderClosedTender notice
Published 15 Jan 2026, 13:07 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Alternative Water Services (AWS) Tender

Official notice

Authority: Southern Water Services Limited (Public body)

Framework agreement5 lotsServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Framework ceiling (notional)£160,000,000total for 5 lots · framework ceiling, not attributable revenue · 1 value update
Submissions closed 30 Jul 2026
Lots 5see the lot list below
Framework period 5 yrsends 31 Mar 2032 · up to 30 Mar 2035 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought5 lots · detail below

Published requirement description

About Southern Water:

Southern Water is responsible for providing, maintaining, and operating water supply and distribution services covering the counties of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and providing services for the maintenance, repair, renewal, or improvement of services forming Southern Water’s water distribution systems.

The area in which we supply water and treat wastewater covers a total of some 10,530km² and extends from East Kent in the east, through parts of Sussex, to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the west.

Southern Water supplies drinking water to approximately 2.5 million households and treats and recycles wastewater from more than 4.7 million households across Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Each day we supply 535 million litres of drinking water from our 90 water treatment works along 13,870 kilometres of water mains to our customers’ taps. We take nearly 70 per cent of the water from underground sources, aquifers, 23 per cent from rivers and seven per cent from storage reservoirs. Each day we also treat and recycle 0.7 billion litres of wastewater at 368 treatment works after it is pumped through a sewer network of 39,600 kilometres.

Scope Overview:

The supply of an appropriate form of alternative water services of an approved quality and quantity provided to, or made available to, affected customers within a defined response time. The total service is made up of bulk water tankering, haulage, supply of bottled water, bottled water delivery and bottled water station management. This service is to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year across Southern Water’s operational areas of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight.

Lot 1 Managed Service Provider (All services across Lots 2,3,4 and 5)

Lot 2 Bulk Water Tankering & Haulage

  • Bulk clean water tankering
  • Planned & emergency response
  • Pumping system to inject & fill into the network
  • Water quality compliance, testing, sampling & certification
  • Full traceability & evidence of compliance
  • Telematics & GPS tracking
  • Optional extra credit for haulage, driver resource & traction only haulage

Lot 3 Supply of Bottled Water

  • Purchase of palletised bottled water
  • Storage & warehousing of bottled water
  • Planned & emergency haulage, transport & delivery
  • Water quality compliance, testing, sampling & traceability

Lot 4 Bottled Water Delivery

  • Collection of bottled water from Southern Water stores, vehicles or contractors
  • Distribution of bottled water direct to customer doorsteps
  • Proof of Delivery system
  • Water quality & hygiene compliance
  • Planned & emergency response

Lot 5 Bottled Water Stations (Traffic Management)

  • Traffic management at bottled water stations and other incident locations
  • Manned security services & guarding
  • Welfare, portaloo’s, shelter & portable tower lighting
  • General waste management
  • Site assessment, technical drawings & preparation
  • How the procedure runs: First stage, qualification comprised of general and technical pass/fail questions to down select to a shortlisted group of suppliers. Shortlisted suppliers will then be invited to submit tenders comprised of a technical envelope and a commercial envelope. Followed by presentations and/or due diligence visits are likely.

CPV: Bottles · Courier services · Drinking water · Drinking-water distribution · Emergency lighting equipment · Homedelivery of provisions · Lighting equipment and electric lamps · Mail delivery services · Mineral water · Miscellaneous water transport support services · Natural water · Pallets · +25 more

How this framework works

From the published notice
Type
Closed framework
Call-offs
call-offs may be awarded directly or by further competition
Framework period
5 yrs · up to 8 yrs from 1 Apr 2027
Published description of the framework

Each Lot has specific technical award criteria and commercial evaluation criteria that will be used to assess supplier proposals and establish which suppliers offer Southern Water best for value for money.

Southern Water intends to call off emergency orders on a cascade system as detailed in the Information & Instructions to Tenderers with provisions to establish planned Orders. This call off mechanism is detailed in Schedule 3 of the Framework Agreement.

Lots and requirements (5)Procurement structure

5 lots · all with a published value · evaluation weights differ by lot

Every one of these 2 lots carries the same published figure, £16,000,000: it is the framework's maximum for the whole notice, not each lot's own budget, and no share per lot is published. The cards below say ceiling above rather than repeat it.

Lot #1Managed Service ProviderRenewal 5 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£56,000,000

All services across Lots 2-5 below

  • Tankering & Haulage
  • Supply of Bottled Water
  • Bottled Water Delivery
  • Bottled Water Stations (& Traffic management)
  • Bulk clean water tankering
  • Planned & emergency response
  • Pumping system to inject & fill into the network
  • Water quality compliance, testing, sampling & certification
  • Full traceability & evidence of compliance
  • Telematics & GPS tracking
  • Optional extra credit for haulage, driver resource & traction only haulage
  • Purchase of palletised bottled water
  • Storage & warehousing of bottled water
  • Planned & emergency haulage, transport & delivery
  • Water quality compliance, testing, sampling & traceability
  • Collection of bottled water from Southern Water stores, vehicles or contractors
  • Distribution of bottled water direct to customer doorsteps
  • Proof of Delivery system
  • Water quality & hygiene compliance
  • Planned & emergency response
  • Traffic management at bottled water stations and other incident locations
  • Manned security services & guarding
  • Welfare, portaloo’s, shelter & portable tower lighting
  • General waste management
  • Site assessment, technical drawings & preparation
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2032 (5 yrs) · up to 30 Mar 2035 with extensionsValue: £56,000,000 exc. VAT · £67,200,000 inc. VAT
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Initial term of 5 years Option to extend up to 3 more years
Lot #2Bulk Water Tankering & HaulageRenewal 5 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£48,000,000
  • Bulk clean water tankering
  • Planned & emergency response
  • Pumping system to inject & fill into the network
  • Water quality compliance, testing, sampling & certification
  • Full traceability & evidence of compliance
  • Telematics & GPS tracking
  • Optional extra credit for haulage, driver resource & traction only haulage
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2032 (5 yrs) · up to 30 Mar 2035 with extensionsValue: £48,000,000 exc. VAT · £57,600,000 inc. VAT
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Initial term of 5 years Option to extend up to 3 more years
Lot #3Supply of Bottled WaterRenewal 5 yrsSMEVCSEceiling above
  • Purchase of palletised bottled water
  • Storage & warehousing of bottled water
  • Planned & emergency haulage, transport & delivery
  • Water quality compliance, testing, sampling & traceability
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2032 (5 yrs) · up to 30 Mar 2035 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Initial term of 5 years Option to extend up to 3 more years
Lot #4Bottled Water DeliveryRenewal 5 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£24,000,000
  • Collection of bottled water from Southern Water stores, vehicles or contractors
  • Distribution of bottled water direct to customer doorsteps
  • Proof of Delivery system
  • Water quality & hygiene compliance
  • Planned & emergency response
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2032 (5 yrs) · up to 30 Mar 2035 with extensionsValue: £24,000,000 exc. VAT · £28,800,000 inc. VAT
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Initial term of 5 years Option to extend up to 3 more years
Lot #5Bottled Water Stations (Inc. Traffic Management)Renewal 5 yrsSMEVCSEceiling above
  • Traffic management at bottled water stations and other incident locations
  • Manned security services & guarding
  • Welfare, portaloo’s, shelter & portable tower lighting
  • General waste management
  • Site assessment, technical drawings & preparation
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2032 (5 yrs) · up to 30 Mar 2035 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Initial term of 5 years Option to extend up to 3 more years

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored

Lots publish different evaluation splits; there is no single procedure weighting.

What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 40–60 points depending on the lot; most lots put it at 40 points.
  • “Alternative Water Services (AWS) Tender” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract: call-offs may be direct or by further competition.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Competitive flexible procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Closed
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Utilities
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
15 Jan 2026, 13:07 GMT
Last source update
1 Jul 2026, 09:52 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 1 Jan 2027
Authority reference
Prj_7985
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-061545
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
BottlesCourier servicesDrinking waterDrinking-water distributionEmergency lighting equipmentHomedelivery of provisionsLighting equipment and electric lampsMail delivery servicesMineral waterMiscellaneous water transport support services
+27 moreNatural waterPallets
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0606a5 Find a Tender
Contract terms summary

Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 30 days

Companies that do not qualify as an SME, 60 days

How it runs

First stage, qualification comprised of general and technical pass/fail questions to down select to a shortlisted group of suppliers.

Shortlisted suppliers will then be invited to submit tenders comprised of a technical envelope and a commercial envelope. Followed by presentations and/or due diligence visits are likely.

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Jaggaer · Who buys & how to bid on JAGGAER
Supplier login requiredElectronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free; latest Chrome/Edge/Firefox only — corporate browsers fail
Appointment period ends
30 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
Clarification deadline
15 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at

southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk ↗

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via

southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk ↗

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address

If you are interested in bidding for this tender, please be aware that you will need to have registered on the central digital platform before you will be able to bid. This will require you to complete some information and then you will be provided with a unique identifier. For more information on how to register, please follow the below link:

how to register on the CDP

Timeline

15 Jan 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 7 dates
  1. Planning notice published279 days ago
    15 Jan 2026, 13:07 GMT
  2. Market engagement260 days ago
    2 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    southernwater.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/esop/guest/go/opport… ↗

    southernwater.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/go/03519719019BC1BEB7EB ↗

    Please not this is not a call for competition

    Note: If you are already registered on Southern Water's sourcing portal please go straight to Step 2 below

    If you are unregistered please follow the instructions below to register

    1. Register your company on the Jaggaer sourcing portal (this is required only once)

    Select the "Login or register to participate" link above and click the "Register Now" link on the home page

    Accept the terms and conditions and click "Next"

    Enter your correct business and user details

    Note the username you chose and click "Save" when complete

    You will shortly receive an email with your unique password (please keep this secure)

    1. Respond to the PQQ/ITT Envelope

    Login to the portal with your username/password

    Click the PQQs open to all suppliers or ITTs open to all suppliers' link.

    Click on the relevant PQQ/ITT

    If you are seeing this notice after the closing date of 02/02/2026 and are interested in supporting this pre market engagement, please reach out to:

    Luke Stone

    Category & Sourcing Manager

    [email protected]

  3. Tender notice published112 days ago
    1 Jul 2026, 09:48 BST
  4. Clarification questions by97 days ago
    15 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Admission / appointment period ends83 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown
    30 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
  6. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  7. Award decision expected byin 73 days
    1 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  8. Contract startsin 162 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

7 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 15 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    15 Jan 2026, 13:07 GMT
    UK2
  2. Tender notice published
    1 Jul 2026, 09:48 BST
    UK4
  3. Published value published: £160,000,000
    1 Jul 2026, 09:48 BST
  4. Status changed to active
    1 Jul 2026, 09:48 BST
  5. Procurement method changed
    1 Jul 2026, 09:48 BST
  6. Deadline published: 30 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
    1 Jul 2026, 09:48 BST
  7. Tender notice published
    1 Jul 2026, 09:52 BST
    UK4
Published amendments (1)

Title & Scope minor change due to FTS - Jaggaer inegration issue 1st July 09:52 shortly after original publish to correct issue

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Southern Water Services Limited

Contracting authorityPrivate utility GB-PPON: PBJQ-2231-ZRPG Southern Water, Southern House, Worthing, South East, Bn13 3NXContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender
  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender
  • Preliminary market engagement notice planningPreliminary market engagement noticeUK2Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender