Official UK procurement notice
Continuous Testing (PTaaS) Service Agreement
Authority: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionIMPORTANT: Please read this section before deciding whether you wish to register for this event. This section provides you with information regarding the scope of this procurement and details some of the key requirements that a successful applicant MUST be able to deliver.
This tender is for a new direct contract for a Continuous Testing supplier to implement and provide a fully governed continuous testing framework for IT covering penetration testing, red/purple team exercises, cyber stress testing, vulnerability discovery and remediation re-testing. The preferred supplier must support red and purple team testing that will include a multi phase continuous testing model (e.g. tag and release), where red team activity transitions into purple teaming upon detection, and findings are shared in cycle while testing continues across subsequent phases.
The service must include active collaboration with Thames Water teams during purple team activities, including validation of controls, detection capability, and response processes.
The solution must demonstrate clear human oversight across testing, validation, and remediation activities, with automation used to support workflows (e.g. tracking, reporting, prioritisation) but not to replace core testing, validation, or assurance activities.
The supplier must support collaborative remediation and retesting, ensuring findings are handed over, validated, and retested with Thames Water teams, with end to end traceability through to closure.
The following conditions would be considered as some of key requirements for a supplier to meet to be considered for this opportunity:
• Availability of a yearly penetration test as a minimum
• A fully functional PTaaS service that can deliver service in line with applicable cadences
• A qualified, accredited and suitably vetted PTaaS support team
Thames Water reserves the right to refine the award criteria. Please note that that deadline for asking for access to the PSQ & submitting of the PSQ is Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at 12 p.m.
- How the procedure runs: This Competitive Flexible Procedure will be a multi-stage process featuring a PSQ phase, and then a multi-stage ITN phase. The PSQ phase will invite through no more than six (6) Suppliers to the first stage of the ITN. The ITN will then be split into two stages. Stage 1 will invite Suppliers to provide commercial and technical responses to the requirements and associated technical questions whilst Stage 2 will progress chosen Suppliers to a further negotiation and presentation stage. Further information regarding the make-up of the competition can be found enclosed within the process pack.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£2,000,000
- Value
- £2,000,000 exc. VAT · £2,400,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- Thames Water envisages that the contract will be awarded for an initial term of 3 years with options to extend by 1 year or longer, up to a maximum overall term of 8 years.
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical — 70%
- Commercial — 30%
- Condition of participationThere are a combination of Pass/Fail evaluated questions and technical questions which will be evaluated. A detailed explanation of what is expected from bidders for each evaluated question is available in the procurement documentation through our sourcing platform Ariba. shortlisting
- Price carries 30 of 100 points — a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £1,332,117 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring — the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED buys IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) — and who usually turns up
THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED’s own published record, next to the Greater London market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →
How the contest usually goes
This buyer’s published record next to the market where the work is delivered — contested contracts only, counted per lot
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 Greater London.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Greater London.
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 168 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.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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 bid7%
2–337%
4–628%
7+28%
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 estimate44%
Within ±2%36%
Above estimate21%
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 #1Suitable for SMEsPublished value£2,000,000
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.
The bar shows 150 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–337%
4–628%
7+28%
i
Where the winning 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 guide, 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 | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ||||
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ||||
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each figure explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
- Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
- “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
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
- Open for expressions of interest
- 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
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Last source update
- 7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 29 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Authority reference
FA2445- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078297Find a Tender
- How it runs
- This Competitive Flexible Procedure will be a multi-stage process featuring a PSQ phase, and then a multi-stage ITN phase. The PSQ phase will invite through no more than six (6) Suppliers to the first stage of the ITN. The ITN will then be split into two stages. Stage 1 will invite Suppliers to provide commercial and technical responses to the requirements and associated technical questions whilst Stage 2 will progress chosen Suppliers to a further negotiation and presentation stage. Further information regarding the make-up of the competition can be found enclosed within the process pack.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via portal- Expression of interest (EOI)
- 3 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Tender submission deadline
- 3 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 20 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
5 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedearlier today7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Clarification questions byin 13 days20 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 27 days3 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 114 days29 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 175 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender