Official UK procurement notice
Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) Vault Optimisation and Capping Delivery
Authority: Nuclear Waste Services Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNuclear Waste Services (NWS) is seeking a Contractor to provide all necessary Design & Engineering, Labour, Equipment, Plant & Materials to undertake all works associated with the delivery of Vault Optimisation and Capping Delivery. The contractor should have a proven track record in handling large scale Earthworks projects, equipped with necessary machinery and expertise to ensure the project is completed efficiently and on schedule.
Nuclear Waste Services operates the Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) Site in West Cumbria on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The LLWR Site is the national disposal facility for Low Level Waste (LLW) arising from the nuclear industry and wider industries, such as medical and defence.
Protecting and developing the Repository’s radioactive waste disposal capability is a long-term programme of works, over the next 100+ years, that will provide future disposal facilities and protection of people and the environment from the disposed waste through to closure of the Repository Site. In the shorter term, over the next 15 years, the focus is on installing closure engineering works for long-term environmental protection from the wastes currently disposed of in Vault 8 and the adjacent legacy disposal trenches as well as constructing additional disposal capacity in the form of new LLW vaults.
The project under NWS covers the following packages of works:
- Final Capping (provide an engineered protective cover) over all the Low Level Waste that has been disposed of in the trenches and vaults.
- Design of an extension to the existing disposal Vault (V9), retaining wall to allow partial closure seal of V9, new Leachate Management System and weather protection warehousing for HHISO containers awaiting disposal.
- Construction of an extension to the existing LLW disposal Vault (V9), retaining wall, partial closure seal of V9, new Leachate Management System and weather protection warehousing for HHISO containers awaiting disposal.
- Design of an Interim Cap over the closed section of Vault 9.
- Construction of an Interim Cap over the Low Level Waste that has been disposed in Vault 9.
Works include but is not limited to;
- Earthworks, including excavation and Backfill work
- Provision of associated plant
- Site Clearance
- Groundworks
- Piling
- Aggregates
- Demolition
- Drainage
- Engineering & Construction Works
- Design
- Land remediation
CPV: Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services · Construction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus) · Construction work · Earthmoving work · Engineering design services · Engineering design services for the construction of civil engineering works · Engineering works and construction works · Excavating and earthmoving work · Infill and land-reclamation work · Site preparation work · Stone for construction, limestone, gypsum and slate · Works for complete or part construction and civil engineering work
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 10 yrs from 25 Feb 2028
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
What 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).
- “Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) Vault Optimisation and Capping…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Nuclear Waste Services Limited buys Building demolition and wrecking work and earthmoving work (CPV 4511), and who usually turns up
Nuclear Waste Services Limited’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Building demolition and wrecking work and earthmoving work (CPV 4511) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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 North 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.
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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 35 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?
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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 bid9% / 0%
2–332% / 9%
4–650% / 33%
7+9% / 58%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.
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 4511Published estimate£318m
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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 221 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid1%
2–310%
4–616%
7+73%
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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.
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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), 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
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 9 Jul 2025, 15:55 BST
- Last source update
- 17 Jun 2026, 11:13 BST
- Authority reference
C20500- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-057001- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-055c45Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
9 Jul 2025 → 25 Feb 2028 · 5 dates- Planning notice published9 Jul 2025, 15:55 BST
- Latest notice published130 days ago17 Jun 2026, 11:13 BST
- Market engagement115 days ago1 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
An in person Low-Level Waste Repository Site tour is to be held Tuesday 14th July where principal contractors are invited to visit our Drigg site. Following the site tour, principal contractors will be encouraged to submit clarifications to NWS. Responses will be issued to all bidders in a transparent manner and will help inform and refine the Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation.
This will then be followed by an online Market Engagement Event held on Tuesday 28th July where NWS will present the final procurement strategy, provide further detail on the scope of works and programme, and address any outstanding queries ahead of tender publication.
To register your place on the Site tour (reserved for those principal contractors) and/or virtual Market Engagement Event, please contact [email protected] by COP Monday 1st July 2026.
- Tender notice expected68 days ago17 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Contract starts25 Feb 2028
Notice history
6 events · 5 releases on Find a Tender · since 9 Jul 2025- Pipeline notice published9 Jul 2025, 15:55 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 Jul 2025, 10:44 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 Sept 2025, 16:02 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Oct 2025, 14:23 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Jun 2026, 11:13 BSTUK2
- Published value updated to £318,000,00017 Jun 2026, 11:13 BSTwas £300,000,000
Routine re-releases (5)
- 2025-07: 2 releases · 9 Jul 2025, 21 Jul 2025
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
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender