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Find a TenderPast planning noticePreliminary market engagement notice
Published 22 May 2025, 22:04 BST

Official UK procurement notice

CT4692 Programme Support Works Framework Preliminary Market Engagement

Official notice

Authority: East West Rail Company Limited (Central government)·On behalf of: ARCADIS LLP

Framework agreementWorksAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Construction & Civil Engineering (45)Public utilities (65)Architecture & Engineering (71) Delivery: UKSouth East (UKJ12)
Planned pipeline value£700,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 1 Apr 2026from the planned procurement notice
Framework period 4 yrsends 3 Jan 2031 · up to 3 Jan 2035 with extensions · starts 4 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The East West Railway Company (EWR Co.) is responsible for the delivery of East West Rail (EWR), a rail project providing infrastructure to enable services to link Oxford to Cambridge.

The scale of the EWR project and the complexity of developing new line and structures (stations & depots) with existing track means it is critical to ensure we have the best suppliers on board. To achieve this we recognise the importance of building the right commercial model to attract strong competition and incentivise collaborative working across the supply chain.

This Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Notice is to inform the market that EWR Co. intends to commence market engagement to support the development of the procurement strategy for the delivery of a Programme Support Works Framework, with multiple lots and multiple suppliers. The framework is intended to accelerate readiness and de-risk the programme, maximising land access opportunity, provide a continuity of existing services via expiring contracts, provide access to SME/Tier 2s, deliver social value and innovation and provide a learning platform for future works and opportunities.

The anticipated lot structure is:

1: Archaeology and Heritage

2: Ground Investigations and Monitoring

3: Environmental and Ecological Works

4: Principal Contractor/Co-ordination/Minor Civils

5: Utilities and Services

The market engagement will commence with an initial virtual briefing session setting out EWR Co's proposed procurement strategy on 6th November 2025 at 12:30 - 13:30pm. This will be followed by a questionnaire inviting potential suppliers to provide their feedback on our proposed approach.

CPV: Architectural, engineering and surveying services · Construction work · Consultative engineering and construction services · Geophysical surveys of archaeological sites · Public utilities · Railway engineering services · Railway station construction work · Topographical surveys of archaeological sites · Works for complete or part construction and civil engineering work

How this framework works

From the published notice
Framework period
4 yrs · up to 8 yrs from 4 Jan 2027

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 4 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 4 Jan 2027 – 3 Jan 2031 (4 yrs) · up to 3 Jan 2035 with extensions
Delivery: UK, South EastEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
45000000 Construction work45200000 Works for complete or part construction and civil engineering work45213321 Railway station construction work65000000 Public utilities71250000 Architectural, engineering and surveying services71310000 Consultative engineering and construction services

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
What this means for your bid
  • “CT4692 Programme Support Works Framework Preliminary Market Engagement” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Works
Notice status
Past planning notice
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
22 May 2025, 22:04 BST
Last source update
24 Oct 2025, 15:10 BST
Authority reference
CT4692
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-068271
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Architectural, engineering and surveying servicesConstruction workConsultative engineering and construction servicesGeophysical surveys of archaeological sitesPublic utilitiesRailway engineering servicesRailway station construction workTopographical surveys of archaeological sitesWorks for complete or part construction and civil engineering work
Delivery area
UKSouth East (UKJ12)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-051fa8 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Appointment period ends
—

Timeline

22 May 2025 → 4 Jan 2027 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    22 May 2025, 22:04 BST
  2. Latest notice published368 days ago
    24 Oct 2025, 15:10 BST
  3. Market engagement355 days ago
    6 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    The preliminary market engagement will commence with an initial virtual briefing session setting out EWR Co's proposed procurement strategy on 6th November 2025 at 12:30 - 13:30pm. This will be followed by a questionnaire inviting potential suppliers to provide their feedback on our proposed approach.

    The objectives of the preliminary market engagement are to understand a number of key areas including but not limited to:

    • Supplier capacity
    • Market interest
    • Effectiveness and fairness of the lotting strategy
    • The Competitive Flexible Procedure
    • Procurement timeline
    • Call off contract options
    • Proposed incentivisation mechanism
    • Project risks
    • Key performance indicators

    To register your interest in the preliminary market engagement, please ensure you:

    Registration deadline is 4th November at 5pm. Invitations to the virtual briefing will be sent via email to the 2 email addresses provided on 5th November.

    Points to Note:

    Please also note the following important notices before registering an interest:

    1. This PME is not a call for competition and is not published with the intention of reducing any time limits for the receipt of tenders.
    2. EWR Co. reserves the right not to commence any procurement process or award any contracts in respect of the EWR project and to amend the requirements stated in this PME (or as stated in any pre-procurement market engagement documents).
    3. EWR Co. will provide information on its emerging thinking on packaging and contracting approach for the framework at the virtual briefing event and within the pre-procurement market engagement documents which will be made available to relevant registered suppliers by EWR Co. EWR Co. reserves the right to further develop and change the procurement strategy and/or other aspects of the proposed procurement and delivery strategy as a result of pre-procurement market engagement or otherwise.
    4. EWR Co. may undertake further and other pre-procurement market consultation exercises but, initially, the market engagement briefing event is to commence market engagement and give suppliers emerging information about the requirements.
    5. Publication of this PME is part of the normal EWR Co. due diligence process on its options, and the publication of this PME does not indicate that a decision has been made on a particular route for a procurement and/or subsequent contract award, if any.
    6. Registration does not bind EWR Co. to include any party/economic operator in the pre-procurement market engagement exercise.
    7. EWR Co. is not obliged to communicate with any parties /economic operators that register after the deadline for registration has passed.
    8. EWR Co. is not obliged to respond to any correspondence on this notice or any matter related to this preliminary market engagement exercise and the decision to accept the registration of any interested party/economic operator, and subsequent inclusion in any engagement process shall remain with EWR Co. alone.
    9. Non-participation in this process will not prevent any party/economic operator from participating in any procurement process in due course.
    10. Given the early stage of the project, and the anticipated impact of the market engagement process, and other internal processes, any information provided to the market shall be subject to change and EWR Co. (insofar as it is permitted by law) shall not be liable for any losses incurred by any party/economic operator as a result of reliance on such information.
    11. Any values set out in this PME are indicative and is subject to revision and is subject to confirmation in any future notices in relation to EWR procurement.
  4. Tender notice expected209 days ago
    1 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Today
    28 Oct 2026
  6. Contract startsin 67 days
    4 Jan 2027

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 22 May 2025
  1. Pipeline notice published
    22 May 2025, 22:04 BST
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    24 Oct 2025, 15:10 BST
    UK2
  3. Published value updated to £700,000,000
    24 Oct 2025, 15:10 BST
    was £675,000,000

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

2 public bodies on the notice

East West Rail Company Limited

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-COH: 11072935 The Quadrant, Milton Keynes, MILTON KEYNES, South East, MK9 1ENContact email

Other public bodies

  • ARCADIS LLPProcuring entityProcurement and commercial partnerGB-COH: OC368843 London, LondonContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure