Official UK procurement notice
DH1 & DH2 District Heating Network Merger
Authority: University of Bath (Education)
The University of Bath is seeking an experienced engineering contractor to design and deliver a solution to merge two adjacent district-heating networks: The project forms part of the University's developing estate-wide district-heating improvement programme.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe University of Bath is seeking an experienced engineering contractor to design and deliver a solution to merge two adjacent district-heating networks:
The project forms part of the University's developing estate-wide district-heating improvement programme.
- DH1: 8 MW installed heating capacity, serving 14 buildings.
- DH2: 1.5 MW installed heating capacity, serving 7 buildings.
The proposed merger will create a single operating network, using DH1 as the main energy centre.
The opportunity involves two stages:
- Engineering Development: Investigations, design and development of the proposed solution, programme and installation costs.
- Engineering Delivery: Installation, testing and commissioning of the agreed solution, subject to University approval.
The University of Bath will follow a Competitive Flexible Procedure, comprising an initial Expression of Interest (EOI), supplier shortlisting, Request for Information (RFI) and subsequent competitive tender.
Installation is planned to begin in July 2027.
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:
www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Bath:-… ↗
To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
CPV: Central-heating installation work · Commissioning of heating installations · District-heating plant construction work · Heating works · Heating-system design services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedWhat 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).
- Criterion 1
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £600,000 (twice the annual value).
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 University of Bath buys Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523), and who usually turns up
University of Bath’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: Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523) →
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.
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 63 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 bid6% / 17%
2–335% / 38%
4–618% / 25%
7+41% / 21%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Awards below, close to or above the estimate, per lot. The buyer side adds below-threshold contracts with a pre-award estimate; an award inside a published range counts as close.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate27% / 30%
Within ±2%45% / 39%
Above estimate27% / 30%
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 4523Published estimate£300k
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 24 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid17%
2–338%
4–625%
7+21%
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.
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.
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 and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly. Contracts Finder appears in live search, the Retender Radar, contract pages, organisation counts, the earlier contracts and past suppliers on a tender's competition panel, the buyer's decision figure and its award against estimate; the other analytical figures are built from Find a Tender notices.
- 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- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Works
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 6 Nov 2026, 15:54 GMT
- Last source update
- 6 Nov 2026, 15:54 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-105879- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b6e0Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via Delta eSourcing- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 14 Dec 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 11 Dec 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Timeline
6 Nov 2026 → 30 Apr 2027 · 4 dates- Tender notice published3 days ago6 Nov 2026, 15:54 GMT
- Today10 Nov 2026
- Clarification questions byin 30 days11 Dec 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 33 days14 Dec 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Contract startsin 170 days30 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published6 Nov 2026, 15:54 GMTUK4
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- 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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender