Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 16 Jan 2026, 10:05 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Large Scale DED Additive Manufacturing of Structural Steels

Authority: UK Fusion Energy Ltd (Public body)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£300,000pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 moends 30 Jun 2026 · starts 31 Mar 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The scope of this procurement is to assess technological capabilities relevant to STEP requirements in Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (AM) of structural steels, with a primary focus on 316L steel. We are seeking a full end‑to‑end solution encompassing design for AM, modelling, high‑rate manufacturing, post‑processing, and non‑destructive examination (NDE).

To view this notice, please click here:

ukifs.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html ↗

CPV: Checking and testing apparatus · Installation services of testing equipment · Research and testing facilities construction work · Steel · Steel pressure vessels · Structural steelworks · Technical inspection and testing services · Technical testing services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How UK Fusion Energy Ltd buys Technical inspection and testing services (CPV 7163), and who usually turns up

UK Fusion Energy Ltd’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: Technical inspection and testing services (CPV 7163) →

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 · division 71
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: 6 of 17 known-size awards · market: CPV 7163 · UK-wide, n=120
35%64%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 3 known-location awards · market: CPV 7163 · UK-wide, n=106
3 of 349%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 11 decided notices · market: CPV 7163 · UK-wide, n=36
25 days47 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 25 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 10 of 27 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7163 · UK-wide, n=179
37%41%

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 buyer8 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 71
0% had one bid
The market68 lots with bid counts · CPV 7163 · UK-wide
9% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 9%
Buyer: 0 of 8 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 68 lots with published bid counts.
2–363% / 22%
Buyer: 5 of 8 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 68 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 34%
Buyer: 2 of 8 lots with published bid counts. Market: 23 of 68 lots with published bid counts.
7+13% / 35%
Buyer: 1 of 8 lots with published bid counts. Market: 24 of 68 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 buyer9 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 71
33% below estimate
The market43 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7163 · UK-wide
47% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate33% / 47%
Buyer: 3 of 9 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 20 of 43 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%67% / 30%
Buyer: 6 of 9 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 43 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 23%
Buyer: 0 of 9 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 43 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 45213 monthsPublished estimate£300k

This lot is listed as CPV 4521. The table above uses the notice category.

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 389 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet19% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 389 similar lots
1 bid19%
72 of 389 similar past lots received 1 bid (19%).
2–325%
97 of 389 similar past lots received 2–3 (25%).
4–630%
116 of 389 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+27%
104 of 389 similar past lots received 7+ (27%).
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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £300k, 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
Services
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
16 Jan 2026, 10:05 GMT
Last source update
21 Jan 2026, 16:05 GMT
Authority reference
UKIFS-450
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005460
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Checking and testing apparatusInstallation services of testing equipmentResearch and testing facilities construction workSteelSteel pressure vesselsStructural steelworksTechnical inspection and testing servicesTechnical testing services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06074e Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

16 Jan 2026 → 31 Mar 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published282 days ago
    16 Jan 2026, 10:05 GMT
  2. Latest notice published276 days ago
    21 Jan 2026, 16:05 GMT
  3. Market engagement267 days ago
    30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    The engagement has not yet been carried out. Engagement process description:

    All submission mut be submitted by 15:00 on the 29th of January 2026 though the Delta tender platform.

    Suppliers responding to this PME will have the opportunity to contribute insights that may shape the final tender requirements. All answers and correspondence will be used for market sounding purposes only and will be treated confidentially.

  4. Contract starts208 days ago
    31 Mar 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    16 Jan 2026, 10:05 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    21 Jan 2026, 16:05 GMT
    UK2
  3. Published value updated to £300,000
    21 Jan 2026, 16:05 GMT
    was £300

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 (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure