Find a TenderPlanned procurementPlanned procurement notice
Published 17 Jul 2026, 11:02 BST

Official UK procurement notice

PLANC (Permitting, Licences, Authorisations, Notifications & Consent) Assurance

Authority: UK Fusion Energy Ltd (Public body)

ServicesOpen procedureAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£1,200,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 17 Aug 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 2 Nov 2028 · up to 1 Nov 2029 with extensions · starts 4 Nov 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

UKFE is expecting to run a procurement to appoint a supplier to provide Intelligent Client support for assurance and project management activities for Permitting, Licences, Authorisations, Notifications & Consent (PLANC). This will be a critical activity for UKFE as work progresses on the design and construction of the STEP Prototype Powerplant (SPP). Activities will also include supporting integration and interfaces across PLANC, DCO (Development Consent Order) and JOP (Justification of Practice).

The duration of this contract is expected to be 24 months, with an optional 12 month extension.

The procurement is expected to start in August. If the tender is competed via an Open procedure, the launch will be communicated via release of a Tender Notice on the Find-a-Tender (FTS) system and tendering will be undertaken on the UKFE Delta portal.

CPV: Advisory and consultative engineering services · Documentation services · Evaluation consultancy services · Project management consultancy services · Safety consultancy services · Technical analysis or consultancy services · Technical testing, analysis and consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSMEPublished value£1,200,000
Contract period: 4 Nov 2026 – 2 Nov 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 1 Nov 2029 with extensionsValue: £1,200,000 exc. VAT · £1,440,000 inc. VAT
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: 1x optional 12 month extension

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids were scored
  • Quality
  • Price

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How UK Fusion Energy Ltd buys Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941), and who usually turns up

UK Fusion Energy Ltd’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerUK Fusion Energy Ltd · division 79
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 6 known-size awards · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=822
33%56%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 3 known-location awards · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=697
3 of 352%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=157
—33 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 33 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 3 of 7 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=1,233
43%47%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer21 lots with bid counts · all categories
10% had one bid
The market278 lots with bid counts · CPV 7941 · UK-wide
15% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid10% / 15%
Buyer: 2 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 43 of 278 lots with published bid counts.
2–357% / 20%
Buyer: 12 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 56 of 278 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 24%
Buyer: 2 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 68 of 278 lots with published bid counts.
7+24% / 40%
Buyer: 5 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 111 of 278 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer20 lots with estimate and award · all categories
30% below estimate
The market238 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7941 · UK-wide
43% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate30% / 43%
Buyer: 6 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 102 of 238 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%65% / 48%
Buyer: 13 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 114 of 238 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate5% / 9%
Buyer: 1 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 22 of 238 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 713124 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.2m

This lot is listed as CPV 7131. The table above uses the notice category.

Expected competition
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 452 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 452 similar lots
1 bid14%
64 of 452 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–323%
106 of 452 similar past lots received 2–3 (23%).
4–629%
133 of 452 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+33%
149 of 452 similar past lots received 7+ (33%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.2m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
17 Jul 2026, 11:02 BST
Last source update
17 Jul 2026, 11:02 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 21 Oct 2026
Authority reference
UKFE-204
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-067618
Latest notice
Planned procurement notice (UK3)
Classification (CPV)
Advisory and consultative engineering servicesDocumentation servicesEvaluation consultancy servicesProject management consultancy servicesSafety consultancy servicesTechnical analysis or consultancy servicesTechnical testing, analysis and consultancy services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06cd99 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Delta eSourcing · Who buys & how to bid on Delta
Public notice page · account needed to bidElectronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free Select account; no DUNS asked at signup
Submission deadline
23 Sept 2026, 13:00 BST
Clarification deadline
11 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

17 Jul 2026 → 4 Nov 2026 · 6 dates
  1. Planning notice published98 days ago
    17 Jul 2026, 11:02 BST
  2. Tender notice expected67 days ago
    17 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
  3. Clarification questions by42 days ago
    11 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Submission deadline30 days ago
    23 Sept 2026, 13:00 BST
  5. Award decision expected by2 days ago
    21 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  6. Today
    23 Oct 2026
  7. Contract startsin 11 days
    4 Nov 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Planned procurement notice published
    17 Jul 2026, 11:02 BST
    UK3

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

UK FUSION ENERGY LTD

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PCRM-7973-DCBL Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, South East, OX14 3DBContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure