Official UK procurement notice
Lower Thames Crossing - Low Carbon Hydrogen
Authority: National Highways Limited (Central government)·Consortium: 3 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNational Highways is the government company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England's strategic road networks. The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) is a National Highways project that will build a new road connecting Kent, Thurrock and Essex through a tunnel beneath the River Thames. It will provide much-needed new road capacity across the river east of London, alleviating congestion on the Dartford Crossing. Three Delivery Partners have been appointed to deliver the three main components of the project - Kent Roads, Tunnels & Approaches and Roads North.
National Highways has designated LTC a pathfinder project that will explore carbon neutral construction. Low Carbon Hydrogen is a key element in LTC's strategy to deliver its carbon reduction targets and a key objective of this procurement is to enable a significant reduction in the use of diesel on the programme by enabling the use of hydrogen powered plant, machinery and generators. The procurement covers the supply, delivery, storage on site and dispensing of Low Carbon Hydrogen for use by the LTC appointed Delivery Partners to fuel their construction plant and equipment. Making hydrogen easily available could displace a significant amount of the diesel forecast to be used during construction.
CPV: Civil engineering consultancy services · Construction machinery and equipment · Construction work · Earthmoving and excavating machinery, and associated parts · Electrical machinery, apparatus, equipment and consumables; lighting · Energy-efficiency consultancy services · Hydrogen · Industrial machinery · Machinery for mining, quarrying, construction equipment · Other sources of energy supplies and distribution · Petroleum products, fuel, electricity and other sources of energy · Public utilities
How this framework works
From the published notice- Places
- up to 1 suppliers · 3 bids received (3.0 per place) · 1 appointed (full)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedPublished value£50,000,000
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).
Published award criteria (3)
- Quality: 50
- Price: 50
- Price: 50:50
- Price carries 50 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 5 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
- “Lower Thames Crossing - Low Carbon Hydrogen” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 1 suppliers, not a single contract.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Competitive dialogue
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 7 Jun 2023, 12:07 BST
- Last source update
- 24 Feb 2026, 17:38 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-016677- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-03d447Find a Tender
- Performance terms
Please see procurement documents for details.
- Review procedure
National Highways will incorporate a minimum 10-day standstill period at the point information on award of the contract is communicated to tenderers. Appeals should be lodged in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015 No 102) as amended.
Publisher note: The Contracting Authority will use an e-Sourcing portal in this procurement. General information on how to take part in this procurement is detailed below: 1. Register the Applicant company on the e-Sourcing portal (this is only required once). Check as the Applicant or someone in your organisation may already be registered. 2. Visit https://nationalhighways.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/ and either log on or click the link to register. If registering for the first time the Applicant will be requested to accept the terms and conditions before proceeding. 3. To express Interest in this PQQ (referred to as a ‘SQ’ by National Highways) Login to the portal - Click the 'PQQs/ITTs Open to All Suppliers' link. (This shows all PQQ or ITT’s open to any registered supplier on this portal). Click on this PQQ/ITT to access the content. Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the selected item into the Applicants 'My PQQs/ My ITT's page. (This is a secure area reserved for The Applicants projects only). The Applicant can access all attachments to the selected item by clicking into the 'Buyer Attachments' area. 4. To respond to the tender - Click 'My Response' under 'PQQ/ITT Details’, The Applicant can then select either 'Create Response' or 'Decline to Respond' (please enter a reason if declining). Note the deadline for completion, (the closing date) and follow the onscreen instructions to complete your submission. 5. There will be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform. Once your submission is fully uploaded and considered complete, submit your reply using the 'Submit Response' button at the top of the page. This stage must be done for The Applicants submission to be considered. 6. The Applicant may save and exit their submission at any time during preparation up till the closing date. If left for a set period of time the system will time out and any unsaved data will be lost. 7. If you require any further technical assistance in the operation of the e-Sourcing portal, please consult the online help or contact the e-Sourcing help desk (0800 069 8630) available from 8am till 6pm. Further information will be set out in the Tender Documents.
How it was run
Official noticeTender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://nationalhighways.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/ ↗
- Appointment period ends
- 8 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission","written"}
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
30 Jun 2023 → 24 Feb 2026 · 3 dates- Next notice expected30 Jun 2023, 00:00 BST
- Admission / appointment period endsperiod end, not a bid countdown8 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST
- Notice published243 days ago24 Feb 2026, 17:38 GMT
Notice history
7 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Jul 2023- Status changed to active11 Jul 2023, 17:17 BST
- Procurement method changed11 Jul 2023, 17:17 BST
- Deadline published: 8 Aug 2023, 12:00 BST11 Jul 2023, 17:17 BST
- Buyer details updated11 Jul 2023, 17:17 BST
- Buyer details updated12 Jul 2023, 10:51 BST
- Status changed to complete24 Feb 2026, 17:38 GMT
- Buyer details updated24 Feb 2026, 17:38 GMT
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2023-06: 1 release · 7 Jun 2023
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast1 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.
Contracts
Lower Thames Crossing - Low Carbon Hydrgen
- Signed
- 18 Aug 2025
- Value
- £32,600,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3bids · 3 electronic | 2 | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- National Highways LimitedContracting authorityNational or federal agency/officeEconomic affairs
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- High Court of Justice - EnglandReview body
Framework contractors & participating bidders
1 commercial party on the notice- GeoPura LtdFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Economic and financial selection criteria
- Technical selection criteria
- Economic and financial selection criteria
- Technical selection criteria