Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 11 Nov 2025, 10:05 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

ITER-grade tungsten (W) plate, K-doped W plate, and ASTM F288 W K-doped ‘nonsag’ W wire

Authority: UK Fusion Energy Ltd (Public body)

GoodsAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£78,500pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 11 Dec 2025from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 moends 31 Mar 2026 · starts 8 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The current MEN aims to gather information on relevant interested organisations (and their capabilities and expertise) that would be interested in contributing to the delivery of the second phase of the STEP programme (2025-2030) by producing ITER-grade tungsten (W) plate, K-doped W plate, and ASTM F288 W K-doped ‘nonsag’ W wire.

UKIFS is planning to procure up to 1 tonne of ITER-grade tungsten (W) plate, K-doped W plate, and ASTM F288 W K-doped ‘nonsag’ W wire to cover the requirements of the second phase of the STEP programme.

The required chemistry and property thresholds detailed in the material specifications in the document contained within this tender. The material will be characterised and tested to determine their suitability for STEP in-vessel applications. UKIFS will lead the delivery of this testing campaign over the next 4 years through collaboration and/or subcontracting.

We require supplier is to indicate its capabilities to produce this material (in accordance with the material specifications), the quantities it can produce, the forms that it can produce and the estimated lead times for producing this material.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at:

ukifs.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Abingd… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

ukifs.delta-esourcing.com/respond/S89JH69DX6 ↗

CPV: Alloys · Metal ores and alloys · Tungsten

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 mo

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

How UK Fusion Energy Ltd buys Cadmium, lutetium, hafnium, tantalum and tungsten (CPV 1475), and who usually turns up

UK Fusion Energy Ltd’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: Cadmium, lutetium, hafnium, tantalum and tungsten (CPV 1475) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUK Fusion Energy Ltd · 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: 12 of 41 known-size awards · market: division 14 · UK-wide, n=85
29%81%

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 the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 of 40 known-location awards · market: division 14 · UK-wide, n=83
20%43%

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: 25 decided notices · market: division 14 · UK-wide, n=13
26 days35 days

Half of these awards were announced within 26 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 37 of 66 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 14 · UK-wide, n=82
56%34%

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 buyer21 lots with bid counts · all categories
10% had one bid
The market34 lots with bid counts · division 14 · UK-wide
47% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid10% / 47%
Buyer: 2 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 16 of 34 lots with published bid counts.
2–357% / 21%
Buyer: 12 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 34 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 32%
Buyer: 2 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 34 lots with published bid counts.
7+24% / 0%
Buyer: 5 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 34 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 buyer20 lots with estimate and award · all categories
30% below estimate
The market18 lots with estimate and award · division 14 · UK-wide
28% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate30% / 28%
Buyer: 6 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 18 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%65% / 61%
Buyer: 13 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 18 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate5% / 11%
Buyer: 1 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 18 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 14753 monthsPublished estimate£79k
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 34 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet47% single-bid risk
Past bids on 34 similar lots
1 bid47%
16 of 34 similar past lots received 1 bid (47%).
2–321%
7 of 34 similar past lots received 2–3 (21%).
4–632%
11 of 34 similar past lots received 4–6 (32%).
7+0%
0 of 34 similar past lots received 7+ (0%).
Check who supplied similar work and whether the route limits bidders.
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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £79k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
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
11 Nov 2025, 10:05 GMT
Last source update
11 Nov 2025, 10:05 GMT
Authority reference
PP-UKIFS-435
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-072651
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
AlloysMetal ores and alloysTungsten
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05de55 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

11 Nov 2025 → 8 Jan 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published344 days ago
    11 Nov 2025, 10:05 GMT
  2. Market engagement330 days ago
    25 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    All submission must be submitted by 15:00 on the 25th of November 2025 though the Delta tender platform.

    Any correspondence should be completed through the Delta Tender Platform

    All interested suppliers should respond to this MEN this is an the opportunity to contribute your insights that may shape any final tender requirements. All answers and correspondence will be used for market sounding purposes only and will be treated confidentially

  3. Tender notice expected314 days ago
    11 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts287 days ago
    8 Jan 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    11 Nov 2025, 10:05 GMT
    UK2

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

UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd

Contracting authorityPublic undertaking GB-PPON: PCRM-7973-DCBL Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Abingdon, South East, OX14 3DBContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure