Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 28 Apr 2026, 13:41 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Biodiversity No Overall Deterioration

Authority: United Utilities Water Limited (Public body)

ServicesAbove thresholdUtilities
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrs 9 moends 31 Mar 2030 · starts 1 Jul 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Biodiversity Performance Commitment (www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2… ↗) is a new requirement for AMP8 (April 2025 - March 2030), designed to incentivise water companies to conserve and enhance biodiversity in the exercise of its functions. It measures the net change in the number of biodiversity units nominated in the company's area, based on the results of surveys completed using Defra's statutory metric (www.gov.uk/government/publicati… ↗) every four years.

Within this performance commitment, a company can, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, nominate areas of company-owned land as well as other land where habitat is improved in the process of a water company carrying out its functions. The net change in the number of biodiversity units is determined, based on the results of surveys completed every four years.

As part of the Biodiversity Performance Commitment, it is expected that water companies provide assurance that overall biodiversity across all other company-owned sites which are not included in the performance commitment are not deteriorating

CPV: Environmental issues consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How United Utilities Water Limited buys Environmental management (CPV 9071), and who usually turns up

United Utilities Water 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: Environmental management (CPV 9071) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUnited Utilities Water Limited · all categories
What to do with it
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: 3 of 17 known-size awards · market: CPV 9071 · UK-wide, n=181
18%46%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 16 of 30 known-location awards · market: CPV 9071 · UK-wide, n=159
53%46%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in 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: no decision dates published · market: CPV 9071 · UK-wide, n=43
—35 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 35 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 39 of 41 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 9071 · UK-wide, n=285
95%41%

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 buyerNo bid counts published
The market76 lots with bid counts · CPV 9071 · UK-wide
26% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid26%
Market: 20 of 76 lots with published bid counts.
2–330%
Market: 23 of 76 lots with published bid counts.
4–621%
Market: 16 of 76 lots with published bid counts.
7+22%
Market: 17 of 76 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 buyerToo few to chart: 1 lot with estimate and award, 5 needed · all categories
The market65 lots with estimate and award · CPV 9071 · UK-wide
51% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate51%
Market: 33 of 65 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%42%
Market: 27 of 65 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate8%
Market: 5 of 65 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 907145 monthsEstimate not published
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 76 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet26% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 76 similar lots
1 bid26%
20 of 76 similar past lots received 1 bid (26%).
2–330%
23 of 76 similar past lots received 2–3 (30%).
4–621%
16 of 76 similar past lots received 4–6 (21%).
7+22%
17 of 76 similar past lots received 7+ (22%).
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.
  • 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
28 Apr 2026, 13:41 BST
Last source update
28 Apr 2026, 13:54 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-038597
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Environmental issues consultancy services
Delivery area
North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)East of England (UKH)London (UKI)South East (UKJ)
+1 moreSouth West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068cc4 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

28 Apr 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published182 days ago
    28 Apr 2026, 13:41 BST
  2. Market engagement173 days ago
    6 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    Market Engagement

    United Utilities are engaging with the market to get a further understanding of biodiversity baselining tools and techniques that may support in meeting Ofwat's requirement to assure that overall biodiversity across company owned sites are not deteriorating.

    We are interested in knowing:

    • How you would develop a biodiversity baseline of United Utilities 56,000Ha estate (including an overview of tools, techniques, prioritisation of the land and data used);
    • What the timeframes would be for developing and then re-running the baseline;
    • Approximate costs for developing and re-running the baseline (e.g. per hectare basis);
    • Whether there are any added benefits and/or functionalities to your methodology that go above and beyond developing a biodiversity baseline that are relevant to water company land management practises.

    Responses should not exceed 5 pages of A4. Please include all pictures, graphics and visuals within this response limit. No appendices will be accepted.

    Next Steps

    Response Deadline - Close of Play 6th May 2026

    Submit to [email protected]

    United Utilities will review and evaluate the information received as part of this market engagement, using it to determine how to proceed, with a more detailed tender likely to follow.

  3. Contract starts118 days ago
    1 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 28 Apr 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    28 Apr 2026, 13:41 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    28 Apr 2026, 13:54 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Please note that this procurement will be issued via Lot 2C of our Management Consultancy Dynamic Market. If you would like to be involved in the future procurement then please refer to the following link to review the Dynamic Market and submit an application where appropriate: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/procurement/ocds-h6vhtk-056c29

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

UNITED UTILITIES WATER LIMITED

Contracting authorityPrivate utility GB-COH: 02366678 · GB-PPON: PVVB-5589-BWHX Haweswater House, Lingley Green Avenue, Great Sankey, North West, WA5 3LPContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure