Official UK procurement notice
South East Strategic Resource Options (SESRO) Market Engagement Briefing Event & PIN
Authority: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) is participating in a market engagement briefing event, on 20th October (morning) in London. The purpose of the event is to inform interested parties of the current proposals to deliver several reservoirs as part of the Strategic Resource Options (SROs) programme, including the Southeast Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO), a new raw water storage reservoir in Oxfordshire - helping to build a resilient future in the long term.
The purpose of this PIN is to give notice of the event, which is being organised by the Regulators' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) and held in collaboration with Anglian Water, and to encourage interested parties to register their interest with RAPID. It is not a call for competition.
TWUL will also be requesting that interested parties complete our Request for Information (RFI) after the event, to provide more detailed feedback on our emerging delivery proposals for SESRO. The event invite and subsequent RFI will be accessible through TWUL's eSourcing platform IASTA SmartSource. Please see Section VI.3 Additional Information on how to request access to the SESRO Market Engagement project.
TWUL intends to use this event to introduce the project to the market and encourage interested parties to engage with us as we develop the project further, including through selective bilateral discussions to be held after the event, in order to explore RFI responses in greater depth. The objectives of the engagement half day are:
- To introduce the SRO Programme, including SESRO and other reservoir schemes being developed by other water companies.
- To explain the project's needs case, scope and key components / assets.
- To introduce key considerations related to the commercial model and delivery strategies under consideration.
- To provide an opportunity for interest parties to ask questions.
- To identify parties who would be interested in engaging with us further after the event.
To access the invite which includes a link to register your interest in attending the event with RAPID, please refer to Section VI.3 Additional Information.
CPV: Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services · Construction equipment · Construction work · Corporate finance and venture capital services · Financial and insurance services · Financial market regulatory services · Operation of electrical installations · Repair and maintenance services · Tunnel operation services · Tunnelling machinery · Water distribution and related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Meeting the water resource supply-demand balance to ensure resilient supplies during…Planned
Meeting the water resource supply-demand balance to ensure resilient supplies during droughts is becoming ever more challenging with increasing pressures from climate change, population growth, societal expectations and increasing environmental aspirations.
In response, OFWAT have established RAPID comprising the three water industry regulators: Ofwat, the Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate - to support and oversee the development of SROs in order to secure long-term drought resilience on behalf of customers while protecting the environment and benefiting wider society.
The South East Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO) is a new storage reservoir which would be sited in the Upper Thames catchment, south west of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. SESRO is envisaged as a regional asset and is being developed by Thames Water on behalf of three water companies - Thames Water, Affinity Water and Southern Water. The reservoir would be filled with water pumped from the river Thames during periods of high river flow. When river levels drop, or demand for water increases, water would be released under gravity back into the river Thames, for re-abstraction downstream. The reservoir would help to protect supplies and manage future water quality issues created by a changing climate as well as offering regional and local benefits, including environmental and biodiversity improvements and public access and recreation.
A range of reservoir sizes have been considered through the regional planning process overseen by Water Resources South East (WRSE). In our revised draft WRMP (published on 31 August 2023) we set out that we consider a 150 Mm3 option presents the best value solution. To view the WRMP click here: thames-wrmp.co.uk/document-library/ ↗
The reservoir is needed to be operational by 2040.
Important Additional Information - Additional supporting documents can be found on our sourcing platform, IASTA. To access the project in IASTA please follow the instructions listed on www.thameswater.co.uk/procurement ↗ and use the following project details:
IASTA Project Name: South East Strategic Resource Options (SESRO) Market Engagement Briefing Event & PIN Additional information: The CPV codes set out in this PIN are included to give an indication of the likely scope of services. TWUL does not guarantee that all the activities referenced by the CPV codes will form part of any future contract notice(s), nor is the list exhaustive of all activities which may be included in any procurement process under this project.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED buys Financial and insurance services (CPV 66), and who usually turns up
THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED’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: Financial and insurance services (CPV 66) →
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.
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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 168 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.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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 bid26%
2–344%
4–627%
7+3%
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 estimate0% / 40%
Within ±2%100% / 40%
Above estimate0% / 20%
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 #1Meeting the water resource supply-demand balance to ensure resilient supplies during…CPV 66Estimate not published
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 66. The comparison uses that group.
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 903 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid26%
2–344%
4–627%
7+3%
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 · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0025 Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (Directive 2014/25/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 22 Sept 2023, 12:47 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Sept 2023, 12:47 BST
- FTS notice number
2023/S 000-028037- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-040303Find a Tender
Publisher note: We would like to thank you in advance for participating in this market engagement process. Please note that the event itself is being managed by Ofwat (on behalf of RAPID) and may be subject to capacity constraints. This PIN is not a call for competition and any information in this PIN maybe subject to change prior to publication of the contract notice and associated procurement documents. This market engagement is open to any organisation that wishes to respond. This market engagement is a standalone exercise intended to gather information and it does not form part of any formal procurement process. There is no guarantee the market engagement will progress into a procurement event, and participation in this market engagement process will not support or hinder supply chain involvement in any future possible procurement event related to the SRO programme. The information available through IASTA SmartSource (details below) is not exhaustive and has been prepared to provide the market with relevant background information about the event. Thames Water accepts no liability or responsibility to any person (including a legal person) as a consequence of relying on the information set out in these documents. Thames Water may use any responses to this PIN to inform any potential future SESRO procurement processes, and to inform future regulatory submissions. At the same time, Thames Water reserves the right not to conduct any SESRO procurement process. In the event that TWUL decide to conduct any SESRO procurement process, this survey does not commit TWUL to any particular timeline, process, scope or value of procurement. If TWUL carry out an SESRO procurement process, any responses to this PIN will not be considered as part of any pre-qualification or tender stage. Your participation in this market engagement will not automatically include or exclude you from any future SRO procurement processes. Subject to a respondent's express consent (to be provided or withheld in the context of a response to this market engagement), TWUL reserves the right to share responses with one or more water companies to the extent that they are or become a party to an SESRO scheme in relation to which you have provided relevant feedback. Please inform us if you do not consent to TWUL sharing your response, or part of your response, with one or more of the listed partners. TWUL is not liable for any costs, fees or expenses incurred by any party participating in this Market Engagement Briefing Event. TWUL cannot guarantee that it will incorporate all or any feedback received at the event into any subsequent procurement event(s) or that TWUL will proceed with one or more procurement event(s). Registration Details The Market Engagement Briefing Event will take place in central London (venue tbc) on the morning of 20 October 2023 (timing to be confirmed). Please kindly mark this date in your calendars. Details of the final venue in Central London and timings will be confirmed shortly and official calendar invites will be sent out once registration has closed. At this stage, due to space constraints, we are asking each company to send no more than one representative. Should further places become available, we will let all companies who have RSVP'd know. We will share copies of presentations and a written summary of the Q&A available after the event on request. The event invite can be found on the TWUL's eSourcing platform IASTA SmartSource. All suppliers who wish to attend the event should request access to IASTA SmartSource by using the web link in Section I.3 or as shown here - www.thameswater.co.uk/procurement. The project title in IASTA is South East Strategic Resource Options (SESRO) Market Engagement PIN & Briefing Event. TWUL's Procurement Support Centre will subsequently send you an email providing login details. If you have any further questions, please email [email protected] Whilst the registration link for the event may have been shared through other means by RAPID and Anglian Water, it's important to note that following the event, the RFI for SESRO and supporting information will be made available through IASTA SmartSource and therefore, early access to the project on this platform is encouraged. The platform will be used by TWUL to share information and manage responses. By completing and submitting the registration form you confirm that you consent to Ofwat processing and sharing your data for the purposes of this market engagement event and all subsequent correspondence and engagement specifically related to market engagement activity associated with the development of the SESRO, Fens Reservoir and Lincolnshire Reservoir schemes. We will always treat your personal details with the utmost respect and never sell them to or share them with other third-party organisations for marketing or sales purposes.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
- Accepted languages
- en
- Participation fee
- document
Timeline
22 Sept 2023 → 31 Mar 2027 · 2 dates- Notice published22 Sept 2023, 12:47 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 156 days31 Mar 2027, 00:00 BST
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
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.