Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 23 Oct 2025, 15:30 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Provision of Instrument to Determine UF3 and UF4 Ratio in Molten Uranic Fuel Salt Matrices

Authority: NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£150,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 28 Nov 2025from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 15 Jan 2027 · starts 15 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

UKNNL is in collaboration with Westinghouse on Springfields Fuels (SFL) site in the development and substantiation of a commercial scale process for the manufacture of fuel salt for the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) for a client. As part of the customer requirements, the fuel salt material must be provided to a set specification. UKNNL are seeking support to develop a proven methodology and instrument for measurement of the UF3/UF4 ratio that could then be utilised by UKNNL staff for the purposes of supporting the delivery of the fuel salt product to the client.

CPV: Nuclear evaluation instruments · Nuclear fuels · Nuclear reactors · Technical analysis or consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED buys Nuclear reactors and parts (CPV 4215), and who usually turns up

NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY 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: Nuclear reactors and parts (CPV 4215) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED · division 42
The marketNuclear reactors and parts (CPV 4215) · North West England
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: 1 of 4 known-size awards · market: division 42 · North West England, n=42
1 of 445%

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.

Here, local means registered in North West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 4 known-location awards · market: division 42 · North West England, n=78
0 of 440%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside North West England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 decided notices · market: division 42 · North West England, n=7
41 days30 days

Half of these awards were announced within 41 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 5 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 42 · North West England, n=82
60%65%

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 buyer6 lots with bid counts · all categories
17% had one bid
The market12 lots with bid counts · division 42 · North West England
8% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid17% / 8%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 12 lots with published bid counts.
2–367% / 42%
Buyer: 4 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 12 lots with published bid counts.
4–617% / 33%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 12 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 17%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 12 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 buyer1 lot with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The market9 lots with estimate and award · division 42 · North West England
44% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate44%
Market: 4 of 9 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%44%
Market: 4 of 9 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate11%
Market: 1 of 9 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 421512 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£150k
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 12 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 12 similar lots
1 bid8%
1 of 12 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–342%
5 of 12 similar past lots received 2–3 (42%).
4–633%
4 of 12 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+17%
2 of 12 similar past lots received 7+ (17%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3.5 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 £150k, 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
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
23 Oct 2025, 15:30 BST
Last source update
7 Nov 2025, 09:36 GMT
Authority reference
NNLC382
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-071860
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Nuclear evaluation instrumentsNuclear fuelsNuclear reactorsTechnical analysis or consultancy services
Delivery area
UKNorth West (UKD)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d2b2 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

23 Oct 2025 → 15 Jan 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published363 days ago
    23 Oct 2025, 15:30 BST
  2. Latest notice published348 days ago
    7 Nov 2025, 09:36 GMT
  3. Market engagement341 days ago
    14 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Please respond by the deadline of 5pm 14th November 2025 by completing and returning the RFI document as per the instructions in the below link. The RFI document and specification are available to download at this address, please sign up to the CTM tendering portal if you have not already: uk.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_… ↗

  4. Tender notice expected327 days ago
    28 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract starts280 days ago
    15 Jan 2026

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 23 Oct 2025
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    23 Oct 2025, 15:30 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    7 Nov 2025, 09:36 GMT
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Due to the recent half term in the UK affecting resource availability for some organisations, the deadline to respond to the RFI has been extended by 1 week. The closing date is now 5pm 14th November 2025.

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

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PVXT-8784-YGNV Chadwick House, Birchwood Park, Warrington, North West, WA3 6AEContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure