Official UK procurement notice
Bioresource Treatment · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Scottish Water
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionScottish Water is seeking to better understand the market for Bioresource treatment and recovery/recycling services including supplier capabilities and operational models. This engagement is intended to inform Scottish Waters’s understanding of the market and help develop the procurement strategy.<br/><br/>Scottish Water is interested to hear from suppliers who can supply all or part of the service and will consider multi source options when developing the procurement strategy.
CPV: Sludge treatment services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
- Bioresource Treatment<br/>To provide treatment and recycling or recovery for approximately 90,000 wet tonnes of sludge, equivalent to 22,000 tonnes of dry solids, per annum. This is the total estimated volume to be treated and treatment does not need to be limited to one location.<br/><br/>Suppliers must provide their own facilities for treatment. Import storage must provide contingency capacity in the event of equipment or process failure. The service must be able to accept vehicles of all sizes, operate with full transparency, and provide import capability seven days a week. <br/><br/>All types of suitable treatment and recycling/recovery options will be considered.<br/><br/>The scope may also include the requirement to treat liquid imports.<br/><br/>2. Seasonal & Emergency Response<br/>The service must be flexible enough to accept increased volumes during periods of higher cake production, with the potential to receive imports 24 hours a day in an emergency. It must also be able to accept ad hoc loads from alternative origins, and planned maintenance must not affect imports.<br/><br/>3. Recycling/Recovery<br/>The service must provide full recycling or recovery in accordance with regulatory requirements, including transport to the relevant recycling or recovery locations and full transparency across all records. Where material is recycled to agriculture, BAS accreditation will be required for treatment, transport, storage and application to land.<br/><br/>4. Performance and Continuous Improvement<br/>Improved outcomes will be achieved through effective performance management, reporting, innovation, resource planning and collaborative working with Scottish Water.<br/><br/>5. Contract Duration<br/>The proposed contract duration is four years, with the option for a further four years’ worth of extensions, assuming delivery begins in early 2028. The overall contract term will be determined by delivery of Scottish Water’s long-term plan.<br/><br/>The proposed duration is indicative at this stage and may be adjusted prior to the procurement.<br/><br/>6. Estimated Value<br/>Estimated annual spend is approximately £6m per annum, comprising of sludge treatment and recycling/recovery activities. The final scope will be confirmed following market engagement and may be adjusted prior to procurement.<br/><br/>7. Information Required from Interest Suppliers<br/>Company Name<br/>Primary Contact<br/>Contact Details (Email/Phone)<br/>Detail Relevant Service Offerings/Capabilities<br/>Location of Services and Geographical Coverage<br/>Previous Experience in the Water/Waste Treatment Sector<br/>SME Status<br/><br/>8. Market Engagement<br/>Interested parties should submit the information requested and register their interest to [email protected] no later than 28th October 2026. Scottish Water may subsequently engage with respondents to discuss relevant experience and supporting information in more detail.<br/><br/>Scottish Water will manage this process in an open and transparent manner to maximise the potential benefits. Participation or non-participation in informal discussions will neither preclude participation in, nor provide any advantage or disadvantage to, suppliers in any subsequent procurement process.<br/><br/>Direct or indirect canvassing of any Scottish Water representative concerning this procurement, or any attempt to obtain information relating to this Prior Information Notice outside of the formal process described in this document, may result in disqualification from this procurement and may be taken into consideration in future procurement activities.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
Competition for Refuse disposal and treatment (CPV 9051), and who usually turns up
Scottish Water has too little published record in this market to describe on its own. Published market evidence for the same work stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Refuse disposal and treatment (CPV 9051) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in Scotland.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Scotland.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 44 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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.
1 bid14%
2–348%
4–633%
7+5%
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.
Below estimate100%
Within ±2%0%
Above estimate0%
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.
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 9051Published estimate£48m
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 21 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid14%
2–348%
4–633%
7+5%
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.
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.
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veolia Water Outsourcing LimitedEarlier contract | Treatment of Bio Resource (Sludge)notice published Mar 2021 | — | — | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
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
- CELEX · 32014L0025 Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (Directive 2014/25/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 14 Oct 2026, 08:43 BST
- Last source update
- 14 Oct 2026, 08:43 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096772- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078707Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 28 Oct 2026, 13:00 GMT
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
14 Oct 2026 → 30 Jan 2027 · 3 dates- Notice published7 days ago14 Oct 2026, 08:43 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Submission deadlinein 7 days28 Oct 2026, 13:00 GMT
- Tender notice expectedin 101 days30 Jan 2027
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
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.