Official UK procurement notice
NW3213 - RFID scanning for Scientific Services
Authority: NORTHUMBRIAN WATER LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNorthumbrian Water Limited (NWL) is seeking market engagement with suppliers capable of delivering an RFID-based sample tracking solution for use within its laboratory operations.
The initial requirement is for a Proof of Concept (PoC) at one NWL laboratory site to assess the feasibility of replacing elements of the current barcode-based sample tracking process with RFID technology. The PoC will evaluate operational benefits, integration requirements and overall suitability before any decision is made regarding wider deployment across NWL's laboratory network.
The anticipated scope includes:
- Assessment of infrastructure and technology requirements to support RFID-based sample tracking.
- Provision of RFID tags, RFID-enabled printing capability, fixed and handheld scanning devices, and supporting software.
- Installation and configuration of PoC equipment at one laboratory.
- Definition of integration requirements with NWL's Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), Thermo SampleManager.
- Support for test scenarios covering sample receipt, transfer, tracking and traceability processes.
- Production of recommendations for future implementation should the PoC demonstrate a viable business case.
NWL currently envisages a future solution being capable of:
- Printing RFID labels across multiple operational sites.
- Integrating with Thermo SampleManager to maintain sample information and status updates.
- Simultaneously scanning large volumes of sample bottles (target capability of at least 500 bottles at fixed scanning points).
- Supporting handheld scanning throughout laboratory facilities and sampling operations.
- Providing robust operation within laboratory environments, including cold storage areas and conditions involving moisture and chemical exposure.
- Supporting future expansion opportunities, including chain-of-custody tracking, storage monitoring, inventory management and asset tracking.
The PoC will be assessed against a range of success criteria, including:
- Improved sample traceability and reduced risk of lost or misplaced samples.
- Reduction in unreadable labels and manual data entry.
- Improved efficiency of sample receipt and processing activities.
- Reliable integration with existing systems.
- High levels of data security, availability and performance.
- Scalability to support future deployment across multiple laboratory sites.
Suppliers with relevant experience and capability are invited to submit expressions of interest together with product literature, service overviews, case studies, technical specifications and any other supporting collateral that may assist NWL in understanding available market solutions.
Submissions and clarification questions should be sent to [email protected]. NWL may contact suppliers to request further information, clarification or follow-up discussions where appropriate. Following completion of this preliminary market engagement exercise, NWL intends to undertake a competitive procurement process informed by the findings of the engagement and associated PoC activities.
CPV: Information technology services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How NORTHUMBRIAN WATER LIMITED buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up
NORTHUMBRIAN WATER LIMITED’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
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.
Here, local means registered in East of England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East of England.
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.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 74 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?
i
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 bid0%
2–342%
4–617%
7+42%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate36%
Within ±2%36%
Above estimate27%
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 7222Published estimate£50k
i
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 136 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–332%
4–624%
7+30%
i
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.
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.
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
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 7 Aug 2026, 15:45 BST
- Last source update
- 7 Aug 2026, 15:45 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-075411- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06df61Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
7 Aug 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published76 days ago7 Aug 2026, 15:45 BST
- Market engagement44 days ago7 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL) is undertaking this Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to better understand the range of RFID-based laboratory sample tracking solutions available in the market, including hardware, software, integration capabilities, implementation approaches and associated support services. Suppliers that believe they have relevant capabilities are invited to submit an expression of interest and provide supporting information, including service overviews, product brochures, technical specifications, case studies and any other relevant collateral for consideration.
Responses and any clarification questions should be submitted via email to [email protected]. NWL will review the information received and may contact suppliers to seek clarification, obtain further details, or arrange follow-up discussions where appropriate. The purpose of this engagement is to inform NWL's understanding of available solutions, delivery models and market capability. Following completion of this engagement and consideration of the information received, NWL intends to undertake a competitive procurement process, the scope and requirements of which may be refined based on the outcome of this market engagement exercise.
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 71 days1 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published7 Aug 2026, 15:45 BSTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender