planningFind a Tender · planning Update

Market Engagement - Robots for Difficult to Access Assets

BuyerUNITED UTILITIES WATER LIMITED

Statusplanning

DeadlineNot published

ValueValue not published

Published3 Feb 2026

What is being bought

United Utilities are looking to engage the market to understand who has capabilities of providing robotic inspection services. Current inspection process requires visual inspection and may include working at height. We are actively exploring innovative ways of carrying out these inspections that ensures safety and gather quality data to assess asset condition. The areas we are interested in are pipe bridges, subway crossings, DSEAR assets and assets that would require scaffolding for inspection.

Delivery location

UKD, GB

Lot details

Lot 1

No lot description published.

Statusplanning

Contract periodFrom 1 Sept 2026 to 1 Sept 2027

SME suitabilitySuitable for SMEs

What is included

Item	Category	Quantity
1	Industrial robots	Not published

Comparable-procurement analytics

Benchmarked against retained Find a Tender procedures with CPV division 42. The category anchor is Industrial robots (42997300); this is a deliberately broad market comparator. The comparison is shown at several levels rather than pretending one company or region is always the best benchmark.

Comparison set	Procedures	Reported bids per procedure	Named award suppliers	Price evidence
Market: CPV division 42	1,075	4 median · 67.9 average (263 of 1,075 with a bid count)	6.3 average (279 of 1,075 with named award suppliers)	Not published
Same buyer	3	Not published	Not published	Not published
Delivery region: UKD	77	5 median · 18.2 average (11 of 77 with a bid count)	6.9 average (10 of 77 with named award suppliers)	Not published

“Reported bids” is an official aggregate, sometimes reported per lot; it is the closest available competition measure. “Named award suppliers” are winners, not all applicants.

Price-outcome signal

Not enough comparable procedures currently publish both a GBP tender value and a usable lowest-valid-bid value to calculate a responsible price-reduction benchmark. Tenderline deliberately does not infer a saving from named award suppliers or from missing award values.

Procurement strategy & market signals

Framework agreementNot published

Dynamic purchasing systemNot published

Competitive procurementNot published

Recurring requirementNot published

Procurement method rationaleNot published

Rationale classificationsNot published

Special regimeutilities

Covered byNot published

Submission policyNot published

Selection criteriaNot published

Risk detailsNot published

Planning & early market engagement

BudgetValue not published

No-engagement rationaleNot published

Planning documents1

Planning milestones1

Milestone	Type	Due	Status
Contact via email at Harry.east@uuplc.co.uk to register interest and you shall be provided a copy of the question set for completion.	engagement	3 Mar 2026	scheduled

Related procurements

No linked framework, prior procurement or reprocurement published.

Documents & submission route

Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender planning · marketEngagementNotice

Source data inventory

Diagnostic view. “Not published” means this current release does not provide a value.

OCID	ocds-h6vhtk-0615f7
Latest release ID	009705-2026
Latest release timestamp	Tue Feb 03 2026 19:22:40 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Source	find-a-tender
Official notice URL	Not published
Tender status	planning
Procurement method	Not published
Procurement method details	Not published
Main procurement category	goods
Above threshold	No
Legal basis	2023/54
Tender period: start	Not published
Tender period: end	Not published
Expression of interest deadline	Not published
Enquiry deadline	Not published
Award period: start	Not published
Award period: end	Not published
Submission method details	Not published
Submission languages	Not published
Electronic catalogue policy	Not published
Total tender value	Not published
Tender lots in source	1
Tender items in source	1
Tender documents in source	0
Awards in latest release	0
Contracts in latest release	0
Parties in latest release	1

Notice history

Date	Event	Reference
3 Feb 2026	planningUpdate	009705-2026
3 Feb 2026	planning	009700-2026

All source data

Unmodified official OCDS data retained by Tenderline for this procurement process.

Complete current OCDS release JSON

{
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  "tag": [
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  "date": "2026-02-03T19:22:40Z",
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          {
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    "title": "Market Engagement - Robots for Difficult to Access Assets",
    "status": "planning",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "2023/54",
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  "planning": {
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        "noticeType": "UK2",
        "description": "Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender",
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    "milestones": [
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        "dueDate": "2026-03-03T23:59:59Z",
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      }
    ]
  },
  "initiationType": "tender"
}

Complete JSON history (2 releases)

3 Feb 2026 · 009705-2026 · planningUpdate

{
  "id": "009705-2026",
  "tag": [
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            "id": "42997300",
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      }
    ],
    "title": "Market Engagement - Robots for Difficult to Access Assets",
    "status": "planning",
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      "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents",
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    },
    "description": "United Utilities are looking to engage the market to understand who has capabilities of providing robotic inspection services. Current inspection process requires visual inspection and may include working at height. We are actively exploring innovative ways of carrying out these inspections that ensures safety and gather quality data to assess asset condition. The areas we are interested in are pipe bridges, subway crossings, DSEAR assets and assets that would require scaffolding for inspection.",
    "specialRegime": [
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    {
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        "id": "009705-2026",
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        "datePublished": "2026-02-03T19:22:40Z"
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    ],
    "milestones": [
      {
        "id": "engagement",
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        "status": "scheduled",
        "dueDate": "2026-03-03T23:59:59Z",
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      }
    ]
  },
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}

3 Feb 2026 · 009700-2026 · planning

{
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