Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Feb 2026, 12:27 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

HWTWRP Continued ME4 · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Southern Water Services Limited (Public body)

WorksAbove thresholdUtilities
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 29 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 29 yrs 7 moends 31 Mar 2059 · starts 12 Sept 2029

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project (The Project) is a Strategic Resource Option (SRO) and a major part of Southern Water’s long-term strategy to address the significant water supply shortfall in Hampshire. By using advanced water treatment technologies, the Project will transform treated wastewater, normally pumped far out to sea, into purified recycled water. This new resource will supplement natural spring water from Portsmouth Water’s Bedhampton Springs, with both sources being stored in the new Havant Thicket Reservoir. This integrated approach will maximise the reservoir’s capacity, ensuring greater water availability, especially during periods of drought. Water from the reservoir will be transferred to our existing Otterbourne Water Supply Works, where it will undergo further treatment to strict drinking water standards prior to going into supply. By establishing a sustainable and resilient water source, the Project will help safeguard essential water supplies for our customers while reducing reliance on environmentally sensitive water sources.

The Project consists of a Water Recycling Plant, tunnel and pipeline connections, a High Lift Pumping Station, and a circa 42 km transfer to Otterbourne Water Supply Works inclusive of intermediate pumping stations and break pressure tanks. The Project scope includes Design, Build, Finance, Maintain and Operate (DBFOM) of new water infrastructure, including water recycling, water transfer, and substantial tunnelling works. The Project will be procured using Ofwat’s Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) model, with a Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) to deliver the DBFOM project. Under the DPC model, Southern Water plan to openly tender for a CAP. Southern Water has carried out several market engagement exercises to support this procurement. Southern Water does not guarantee that all activities referenced by the CPV codes will form part of any future tender notice(s), nor is the list exhaustive of all activities which may be included in any procurement process under this Project.

CPV: Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services · Banking and investment services · Construction management services · Construction project management services · Construction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus) · Construction work for tunnels · Construction work for water and sewage pipelines · Construction work for water projects · Construction-related services · Corporate finance and venture capital services · Drinking-water treatment plant construction work · General construction work for pipelines · +7 more

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Southern Water Services Limited buys Engineering works and construction works (CPV 4522), and who usually turns up

Southern Water Services Limited’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Engineering works and construction works (CPV 4522) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerSouthern Water Services 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: 2 of 7 known-size awards · market: CPV 4522 · South East England, n=14
29%43%

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.

Here, local means registered in South East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 10 known-location awards · market: CPV 4522 · South East England, n=21
30%76%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South East England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 4 decided notices · market: CPV 4522 · UK-wide, n=16
79 days39 days

Half of these awards were announced within 79 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 11 of 16 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4522 · South East England, n=26
69%31%

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 buyer1 lot with bid counts · all categories · too few to chart
The market31 lots with bid counts · CPV 4522 · UK-wide
19% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid19%
Market: 6 of 31 lots with published bid counts.
2–348%
Market: 15 of 31 lots with published bid counts.
4–629%
Market: 9 of 31 lots with published bid counts.
7+3%
Market: 1 of 31 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 buyer3 lots with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The market26 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4522 · UK-wide
62% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate62%
Market: 16 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%19%
Market: 5 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate19%
Market: 5 of 26 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 4522355 monthsNo real estimate
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 223 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet12% single-bid risk
Past bids on 223 similar lots
1 bid12%
26 of 223 similar past lots received 1 bid (12%).
2–326%
58 of 223 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–626%
57 of 223 similar past lots received 4–6 (26%).
7+37%
82 of 223 similar past lots received 7+ (37%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

—No real estimate
The buyer published £0 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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
Works
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
6 Feb 2026, 12:27 GMT
Last source update
6 Oct 2026, 16:52 BST
Authority reference
ME4
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-094447
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection servicesBanking and investment servicesConstruction management servicesConstruction project management servicesConstruction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus)Construction work for tunnelsConstruction work for water and sewage pipelinesConstruction work for water projectsConstruction-related servicesCorporate finance and venture capital services
+9 moreDrinking-water treatment plant construction workGeneral construction work for pipelines
Delivery area
UKSouth East (UKJ)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-064a00 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

6 Feb 2026 → 12 Sept 2029 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published257 days ago
    6 Feb 2026, 12:27 GMT
  2. Latest notice published15 days ago
    6 Oct 2026, 16:52 BST
  3. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  4. Market engagementin 87 days
    15 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT

    Southern Water (SW) commenced market engagement 4 (ME4) on 6th February 2026 ( (Preliminary Market Engagement Notice 2026/S 000-010912) it included:

    • Market Survey
    • Requests for Information (RFIs) Pack comprising an RFI questionnaire and key information on the Project
    • Townhall Event
    • A number of bi-lateral meetings with selected participants seeking feedback in particular from investors, construction and operating and maintenance contractors and/or potential consortia (which may involve their wider supply chain) that may be interested in the Project.

    SW will now continue this ME4 engagement through its new sourcing portal, Coupa, and invites all interested parties to register and express their interest in the forthcoming Coupa event to ensure ongoing communication. All interested parties (whether they participated in the earlier market engagement or are now expressing an interest) are also encouraged to participate at this stage, and all previous materials and updated information will be made available through the Coupa portal.

    supplier.coupahost.com/quotes/public_events ↗

    SW will provide the market with a summary of the key updates to the Commercial Overview and Procurement Overview documents provided as part of the previous RFI exercise. SW may undertake further market engagement on these updates in November 2026, prior to tender launch in January 2027.

    The basis on which this market engagement exercise is carried out is as follows:

    • Southern Water may continue this market engagement exercise as long as it considers it necessary and expressly reserves the right to conduct such other activities that it considers necessary, details of which will be provided through the Coupa portal;
    • To the extent that feedback is requested at any point during this market engagement exercise, Southern Water may choose not to consider or implement any or all of the suggestions made through this market engagement exercise, or may at its discretion use the outputs from this exercise to shape and refine any aspect including the procurement process before any formal competitive procurement process is launched;
    • The market engagement exercise is not a formal request for participation in any procurement. Involvement in this exercise will not confer any advantage or disadvantage on any person in respect of any future competitive procurement processes launched for the Project;
    • Respondents should note that information provided in response to the market engagement exercise may be disclosed by Southern Water to its directly appointed advisers and consultants (all of whom are subject to obligations of confidentiality as part of their appointment) and / or to other stakeholders such as regulators. The information provided in responses may also be disclosed, in a suitably summarised and anonymised form, to other stakeholders and to other interested persons;
    • Southern Water is not obliged to respond to any correspondence related to the market engagement exercise. Direct or indirect canvassing of Southern Water (or any person connected with it) by any person concerning the market engagement exercise, or any attempt to procure information outside of the defined process is discouraged and may (in certain circumstances) require the disqualification of the relevant person(s) from participation in any future competitive procurement process;
    • Any costs of participation in this market engagement exercise will be borne by the interested person.

    Southern Water is using an electronic tendering portal, Coupa, which can be found at: docs.coupa.com/en/supplier-document… ↗

    It is free to register on the portal, which can be accessed at any time of day.

  5. Tender notice expectedin 101 days
    29 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  6. Contract starts
    12 Sept 2029, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 6 Feb 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Feb 2026, 12:27 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Oct 2026, 16:52 BST
    UK2
  3. Published value published: £0
    6 Oct 2026, 16:52 BST

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

Southern Water Services Limited

Contracting authorityPrivate utility GB-PPON: PBJQ-2231-ZRPG Southern Water, Southern House, Worthing, South East, Bn13 3NXContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure