Find a TenderOpen for expressions of interest Tender notice
Published 24 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Low Code No Code Platform

Authority: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED (Public body)

Two-stageGoodsCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitable
Published estimate£1,000,000≈ £333k / year · £1,200,000 inc. VAT
Submission deadline 23 Oct 202612:00 BST · 28d 19h left
Clarification cut-off 6 Oct 202617:00 BST · questions to the authority
Contract term 3 yrsup to 5 yrs with extensions · starts 1 Feb 2027
Bids per lot · the market 4division 48 · n=96 · competition analysis ↓

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Thames Water is seeking to complete a tender to select and implement a modern Enterprise Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) Platform to accelerate digital transformation, enable business-led innovation, and modernise how applications, workflows, automations, and business solutions are developed and managed across the organisation.

The opportunity lies in selecting an LCNC platform that will:

Enable Enterprise-Wide Innovation:

Provide a secure and scalable platform that enables business users and IT teams to collaboratively develop applications, automate processes, create digital solutions, and drive continuous improvement across the organisation.

Improve Operational Efficiency:

Reduce manual effort through workflow automation, business process orchestration, robotic process automation (RPA), AI-assisted development, and reusable components that accelerate solution delivery.

Strengthen Governance and Security:

Embed enterprise-grade governance, security controls, auditability, environment management, role-based access controls, and integration with existing identity and access management solutions to ensure compliance with Thames Water's regulatory and security requirements.

Support Scalable Application Development:

Read the full description (716 more characters)

Enable the rapid development, deployment, and lifecycle management of applications ranging from simple departmental solutions to business-critical enterprise applications, while maintaining platform stability, performance, and supportability.

Facilitate Integration Across the Enterprise:

Provide seamless integration capabilities with existing Thames Water systems, including SAP, Microsoft 365, Azure, Salesforce, operational technologies, data platforms, and third-party applications through APIs, connectors, and integration services.

Thames Water reserves the right to refine the award criteria. Please note that that deadline for asking for access to the PSQ & submitting of the PSQ is 23 October 2026 at 12:00pm.

  • How the procedure runs: PSQ followed by ITN, shortlisting further based on written submissions to presentations and award.

CPV: Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1Lot 1Renewal 3 yrsSMEPublished value£1,000,000
Contract period: 1 Feb 2027 — 1 Feb 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 5 yrs with extensionsEligibility: SME eligibleDelivery: London, South EastTurnover guideline: ~£665,451/yr≈ 2× annual value
Value
£1,000,000 exc. VAT · £1,200,000 inc. VAT
Extensions
Thames Water envisages that the contract will be awarded for an initial term of 4 years with options to extend in whole or in part annually, up to a maximum overall term of 8 years.
48000000 Software package and information systems

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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
How bids are scored
Quality: 70%Price: 30%
Published sub-criteria (3)
  • Technical35%
  • Presentations35%
  • Commercial30%
Conditions of participation1
  • Technical & professional ability
    ISO 27001

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48) — and who usually turns up

THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED’s own published record, next to the Greater London market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Software package and information systems (CPV 48)

1

How the contest usually goes

Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.

This authority

THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED

contract notices in 36 months: 5 in division 48 (1 route not published) · 37 in all categories (8 route not published)

Bids per lot
i

How many companies usually bid for work like this.

Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.

Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no bid reports published.

Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.

no bid reports published
Single-bid lots
i

How often only one company bid.

Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.

Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no bid reports published.

High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.

no bid reports published
Award vs estimate
i

Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.

Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.

Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 1 pairs. Small sample.

A past pattern, not a price to bid.

at estimateall categories · 36m · n=1 pairs
Deadline → award date
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.

Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 6 notices.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

155dall categories · 36m · n=6 notices
Notice updates
i

How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.

Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.

Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 62 notices.

Last 24 months.

2all categories · 24m · n=62 notices
Awarded without competition
i

How often this buyer awards without a competition.

Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.

Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 4 notices.

Last 36 months.

0%division 48 · 36m · n=4 notices
How procedures are run moderate · n=4
i

Which procedures buyers here use.

Notices by the procedure they declare: open, selective, limited or direct. Open and selective are competitions; limited and direct are not.

Based on 5 notices · division 48, last 36 months.

  • Open 0%
  • Selective 100%
  • Limited 0%
  • Direct 0%

5 notices · division 48. Open and selective are competed (they feed the bid and price figures above); limited and direct are not; notices publishing no route are outside all four.

The market · delivery region

Greater London · Software package and information systems (CPV 48)

contract notices delivered in Greater London in 36 months: 471 in division 48 (199 competed, 140 route not published)

Bids per lot
i

How many companies usually bid for work like this.

Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.

Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 96 lots. 41 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 3) and 55 from older notices (bids received, middle 4).

Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.

4division 48 · 36m · n=96 lots
Single-bid lots
i

How often only one company bid.

Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.

Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 96 lots.

High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.

14%division 48 · 36m · n=96 lots
Award vs estimate
i

Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.

Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.

Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 44 pairs.

A past pattern, not a price to bid.

1% belowdivision 48 · 36m · n=44 pairs
Deadline → award date
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.

Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 47 notices.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

63ddivision 48 · 36m · n=47 notices
SME bidders
i

How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.

SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.

Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 53 lots.

Last 36 months.

43%division 48 · 36m · n=53 lots
Winners based in the region
i

How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.

Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.

Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 48), last 36 months: 199 awards.

Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.

Last 36 months.

63%division 48 · 36m · n=199 awards
Bids per lot robust · n=96
i

How the number of bidders is spread across lots.

Each lot with a published bid count is put in a band: one bid, two to three, four to six, seven or more. Real competitions only.

Based on 96 lots on 85 contested notices · division 48, last 36 months.

  • 1 bid 14%
  • 2–3 31%
  • 4–6 31%
  • 7+ 24%

Median 4 · 96 lots on 85 contested notices · division 48.

Winning award vs estimate robust · n=44
i

How often winners come in below, near or above the estimate.

Each lot with both an estimate and an award is placed by how far the award sat from the estimate.

Based on 44 lot pairs · division 48, last 36 months.

A past pattern, not a price to bid.

  • Below estimate 43%
  • Within ±2% 23%
  • Above estimate 34%

44 lot pairs · division 48.

robust · n=44
i

Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.

We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.

Based on the Greater London market’s usual movement over 44 lots (division 48), applied to the £1,000,000 estimate on this notice. The range comes from the region’s middle half.

A benchmark, not a price to bid.

Awards in Greater London (division 48, n=44 pairs) land a median 1% below: on this notice’s £1,000,000 that is about £994,000, middle half £788,000£1,161,000 (quartiles from Greater London · division 48). Context for a bid, not a recommended price.
Coverage and what to read with care
  • Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
  • Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
  • “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Competitive flexible procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Open for expressions of interest
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
No (one-off requirement)
First published
24 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
Last source update
24 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end — 1 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT
Authority reference
TC2538
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Software package and information systems
Delivery area
London (UKI)South East (UKJ)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07796a Find a Tender
How it runs
PSQ followed by ITN, shortlisting further based on written submissions to presentations and award.

How to participate & submission route

Official notice Submit via portal
Submission portal named on this notice: portal not identified
Electronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Expression of interest (EOI)
23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
Tender submission deadline
23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
Clarification deadline
6 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
If you are interested in participating, please complete this form: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/277rmKcg6w
Published estimate £1,000,000 excludes VAT (£1,200,000 including VAT).

Timeline

6 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Tender notice publishedearlier today
    24 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
  2. Clarification questions byin 12 days
    6 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
  3. Expressions of interest byin 29 days
    23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
  4. Submission deadlinein 29 days
    23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
  5. Contract startsin 129 days
    1 Feb 2027, 00:00 GMT
  6. Award decision expected byin 130 days
    1 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Nothing awarded yet
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Tender notice published
    24 Sept 2026, 12:26 BSTUK4

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED

Contracting authorityPrivate utility GB-COH: 02366661 · GB-PPON: PNQQ-4647-DTCV Clearwater Court, Reading, South East, RG1 8DB [email protected]

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Conflict of interest declarationtenderConflict of interest declarationNot published

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender