National Supply of Sandbags

Sandbag Pre-market engagement overview

The Defra Group Commercial (DGC) premarket engagement provides a draft outline of the anticipated requirements for the upcoming procurement. It also includes a link to a short survey that DGC encourages suppliers to complete to register their interest and provide feedback.

All survey responses are anonymous.

Please copy and paste this link into your browser:

forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

The deadline for responses is 27th March 2026.

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Important Notice

Defra Group Commercial (DGC) and/or the Environment Agency reserve the right to amend or cancel all or any part of this set of requirements, as well as any associated procurement activities, at any time.

Publication of this UK2 Notice does not guarantee that a procurement will proceed.

Draft Requirements

1.1 The supplier will provide the Environment Agency (EA) the provision of

• Empty and filled Sandbags and various additional items as part of their Incident response capability.

2.0 Contract and Major Incident Response Management

2.1 The contract will require the delivery of flood protection equipment

2.2 Delivery in a timely manner will be key during incident response – 48 Delivery hr distribution to multiple locations as described below. Outside of incident response- delivery times should be within 5 working days.

3.0 Sandbags and auxiliary items EA Equipment services and requirements

3.1 Empty Sandbags – both Hessian and Polypropylene:

The contractor will provide a sandbag that complies with the following:

Hessian

• Rot Proof Military Specification Sandbag
• Approx. sizing: Width: 30-40cm x Length: 75cm -85cm
• Heavy duty rot proofed hessian
• Extra heavy 9oz jute fabric
• Made to BS Standard 1214: 1977
• Rot proof that extends the life of the sandbag
• Fully biodegradable

Polypropylene

• Made from recyclable material
• Approx. sizing: Width: 30-40cm x Length: 75cm-85cm
• Treated fabric with maximum UV protection to prevent damage from sunlight exposure
• Supplied empty or filled
• When filled should hold approx. 12kg-20kg of sand, with 15kg being optimum

3.2 Filled sandbags

The contractor will provide a sandbag that complies with the following:

• Rot Proof Military Specification Sandbag
• Approx. sizing: Width: 30-40cm x Length: 75cm -85cm
• Heavy duty rot proofed hessian
• Extra heavy 9oz jute fabric
• Made to BS Standard 1214: 1977
• Rot proof that extends the life of the sandbag
• Fully biodegradable
• Filled with kiln dried sand

3.3 Unfilled Flight bags dumpy bags

• European Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container Association (EFIBCA) test standard or equivalent
• We are advised that presently a bulk bag will hold 40-50 sandbags the assumes a combined weight of a maximum per bulk bag of 720-900 kg the bulk bag have a Safe Working Load (SWL) of 1 tonne.
• Black woven PP uncoated 170 gsm, 1.5-2% UV inhibitor, unprinted IAW with specification certificate.

TOP: Open hemmed

BASE: Flat

LIFTING LOOPS: 4 standard 4x100cm free height black

STITICHING: Heracled + safety stitch, black PP

Safe working load : 6:1 multi trip 1000 kg capacity

LABELS, W&C safety label with "airlift bulk bag" written at the top

WEIGHT: 1376 gr

TOLERANCE 0% + 6% weight -0cm + 2 cm dimensions

TEST STANDARD Conform to EFIBCA test standard or equivalent

3.3 Heavy duty waterproof boxes -two sizes

These boxes are used to keep equipment dry. There is flexibility in dimensions, but they must come with lids, be waterproof, and liftable with a forklift or telehandler.

3.3.1 Shallow pallet box with lid and a <500 litre capacity – Approx sizing:

• External dimensions: LxWxH 1200 x 1000 x 580mm
• Internal dimensions: LxWxH 1120 x 920 x 430mm
• Capacity: 450 Litres
• Dynamic load capacity: 700 kg
• Static load capacity: 4000 kg
• Weight: 31 kg
• Material: HDPE

3.3.2 Large pallet box with lid and a > 500 litre capacity – Approx sizing:

• External dimensions: LxWxH 1200 x 1000 x 760mm
• Internal dimensions: LxWxH 1112 x 912 x 570mm
• Capacity: 625 Litres
• Dynamic load capacity: 600 kg
• Static load capacity: 4500 kg
• Racking load capacity: 500 kg
• Weight: 41.56 kg
• Material: HDPE

4.0 Transport

4.1 Provide all transport requirements to deliver sandbags to multiple EA locations or incident site locations.

The depots are:

Principal Depot Sale Carrington Lane, Sale, Cheshire M33 5NL

Principal Depot Lea Marston Coton Road, Sutton Coldfield B76 0DN

Principal Depot Selby Unit 1C, A19 Riccall Business Park, Selby YO19 6QR

Principal Depot Bradney Bradney Lane, Bawdrip, Bridgwater, Somerset TA7 8PZ

Principal Depot Ely Kiln Lane, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4TT

Principal Depot Sunbury Fordbridge Road, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex TW16 6AP

Principal Depot Rye Military Road, Playden, Rye, East Sussex TN31 7PH

Principal Depot Bridgend Bridge End Depot Levens Kendal Cumbria LA8 8EP

EA Resilience centre – Moat Farm Moat Farm Moat Farm Resilience Centre, Unit 1, Moat Farm, Newton Purcell, Buckingham MK18 4AX

EA Resilience centre – Land Recovery Chemical Lane Chemical Lane, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent ST6 4NU

5.0 Indicative volumes

5.1 The number of items ordered varies considerably from year to year. This is due to our needs during incident response. During peacetime, we maintain a substantial stock of equipment at our principal depots.

During a major flooding incident, we can deploy thousands of sandbags to none, depending on the site and situation.

Over the last five years we have procured on average 10,000-100,000 unfilled sandbags plus 1000 flight bags and 300 waterproof boxes.