Official UK procurement notice
PhD bursary call 2026 · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe NDA is requesting applications to its bursary call, to support the NDA mission to deliver safe, sustainable and publicly acceptable solutions to the challenge of decommissioning and clean-up of the UK’s civil nuclear legacy.
The NDA’s goals from the call are as follows:
•Maintain and develop the key skills that will be required to help us carry out the mission over the coming decades
•Provide fundamental understanding of technologies and processes across the NDA estate
•Develop early-stage technologies (TRL 1 – 3)
•Encourage two-way knowledge transfer between the academic and industrial communities working on nuclear decommissioning
What is not covered under the call is R&D focused on site-specific challenges such as improving the efficiency of an existing plant or process or on training resource in a specific capability. Those research areas are the responsibility of the individual subsidiaries and SLCs.
Applicants are advised to seek advice on the structure and content of their proposal prior to submission. Contact details can be found at the end of this document.
The call is open to UK academic institutions for projects that will lead to the award of a PhD.
This year, up to £750,000 is available from the NDA PhD bursary to support projects that will lead to the award of a PhD. Universities and Research Institutes are invited to make proposals up to a value of £155,000 per project under the thematic areas outlined below.
NDA recognise that increases in the cost of living have impacted postgraduate researchers. In line with the recent UKRI announcement, NDA expect students funded through the NDA PhD bursary call to receive a stipend that is at least equivalent to those paid by UKRI as of 1/10/26, i.e. £21,805 FTE. NDA will not object to a stipend increase for the purposes of ensuring the stipend is competitive with your departmental guidance.
Further detail will be available on how to apply from ndaphdbursary.co.uk ↗ via the NDA’s University Interactions partner, The UK National Nuclear Laboratory.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Apr 2027, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Research and development services and related consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedPublished value£750,000
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Nuclear Decommissioning Authority buys Research and development services (CPV 73), and who usually turns up
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’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: Research and development services (CPV 73) →
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. Small firms win less of this buyer’s work than the market’s: 13% against 49%, n=31.
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 North West England (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West 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 60 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.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
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 bid25% / 8%
2–325% / 29%
4–613% / 38%
7+38% / 25%
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 estimate61%
Within ±2%29%
Above estimate11%
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 #1Published estimate£750k
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 24 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–329%
4–638%
7+25%
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 1 Apr 2027
- First published
- 22 Apr 2026, 16:01 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Apr 2026, 16:01 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 1 Sept 2026
- Authority reference
C23919- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-036766- Latest notice
- Planned procurement notice (UK3)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0688efFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 31 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 12 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Not allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Further detail will be available on how to apply from ndaphdbursary.co.uk ↗ via the NDA’s University Interactions partner, The UK National Nuclear Laboratory.
Timeline
22 Apr 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 6 dates- Planning notice published183 days ago22 Apr 2026, 16:01 BST
- Tender notice expected174 days ago1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by71 days ago12 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline52 days ago31 Aug 2026, 12:00 BST
- Contract starts52 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by51 days ago1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Planned procurement notice published22 Apr 2026, 16:01 BSTUK3
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
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender