Official UK procurement notice
Southern Water Andover Link Main (ALM) Pipeline Construction & Connection
Authority: Southern Water Services Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Andover Link Main (ALM) scheme is being delivered by Southern Water Services (SWS) under the Major Projects Directorate. The ALM project is part of the WRMP programme and is associated with SWS’s agreement with the EA under Section 20 of the Water Resources Act 1991 put in place following Public Inquiry to reduce our abstraction licenses for public water supply. Its purpose is to provide environmental protection for the rivers Test and Itchen. The WRMP Programme aims to create greater resilience to water shortages, especially during dry weather and droughts. Existing abstraction licences for the River Test and River Itchen have been substantially reduced through changes required by the Environment Agency to protect the rivers, both designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and the River Itchen as Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Additional licence changes will bring further reductions. These rivers are key examples of rare chalk stream habitat which support a wide variety of species. The Proposed Scheme will support environmental improvement by increasing the protection of these rivers while addressing the need for secure water supply.
The ALM scheme involves approximately 25km of below-ground pipeline connecting critical infrastructure between Winchester and Andover, alongside upgrades to existing and new booster stations. It aims to deliver a bi-directional transfer capacity of 15Ml/d by March 2030, ensuring both strategic drought resilience and operational reliability for the isolated Andover Water Resource Zone (WRZ).
SWS delivery strategy is to appoint a single Principal Contractor to design and build Andover Link Main, delivery to inclue detailed design and construction package with enabling work to be completed prior to construction. This will also include support to discharge planning conditions and submission of certain environmental consent and permits. The Principal Contractor will act as a Tier 1 provider and sub-contract specialist elements. Southern Water have developed the scheme proposal to early outline design and are planning to complete this phase of work to enable the design to be realkeased with the ITT, post participation stage. comprising a detailed design and construction package, with enabling work to be completed prior to construction. This will also include support to discharge planning conditions and submission of certain environmental consent and permits.
- How the procedure runs: Participation Stage and shorlisting to ITT ITT stage 1 to include Interim assesment and shortlisting to ITT stage 2 ITT stage 2 Final Tenders (BAFO) and negotiations Preferred Supplier Stage
CPV: Works related to water-distribution pipelines
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£70,000,000
- Economic & financial standing
Detailed in the Procurment Documents available in our Jaggaer portal
- Technical & professional ability
Detailed in the Procurment Documents available in our Jaggaer portal
- Condition of participationshortlisting
Tenderers invited to tender, who submit qualifying proposals before the closing time, will be checked for compliance and any non-compliant tenders may be rejected without further evaluation.
Tenderers’ responses to the PQQ will be assessed in the order as outlined in the ITT and Jaggaer, with those sections marked as Pass/Fail where the Tenderer will either meet or fail to meet the minimum criteria. All prospective Tenderers are required to pass each question within the SWS PQQ response forms.
The PQQ response forms will be evaluated in the following order:
Tenderers must meet the minimum criteria set out in questions . Tenderers who pass the criteria will then be evaluated on the questions in section 2 where the top scoring Tenderers above will be invited to tender. Any Tenderer who fails to meet the minimum criteria will be excluded from the process, and at the discretion of SWS, the next highest ranked Tenderer will be chosen to replace the excluded Tenderer, and so on.
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical: 50%
- Commercial: 50%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical: Sub sections detailed in the procurement documents, final criteria to be released with the ITT
- Commercial: Price activity schedule, final criteria to be released with the ITT
- Economic & financial standing
Detailed in the Procurment Documents available in our Jaggaer portal
- Technical & professional ability
Detailed in the Procurment Documents available in our Jaggaer portal
- Condition of participationshortlisting
Tenderers invited to tender, who submit qualifying proposals before the closing time, will be checked for compliance and any non-compliant tenders may be rejected without further evaluation.
Tenderers’ responses to the PQQ will be assessed in the order as outlined in the ITT and Jaggaer, with those sections marked as Pass/Fail where the Tenderer will either meet or fail to meet the minimum criteria. All prospective Tenderers are required to pass each question within the SWS PQQ response forms.
The PQQ response forms will be evaluated in the following order:
Tenderers must meet the minimum criteria set out in questions . Tenderers who pass the criteria will then be evaluated on the questions in section 2 where the top scoring Tenderers above will be invited to tender. Any Tenderer who fails to meet the minimum criteria will be excluded from the process, and at the discretion of SWS, the next highest ranked Tenderer will be chosen to replace the excluded Tenderer, and so on.
- Price carries 50 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 5 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Works
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 16 May 2025, 09:50 BST
- Last source update
- 26 Sept 2025, 14:48 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 29 May 2026
- Authority reference
Prj_7195- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-060220- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-051552Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Utilties contract 60 day payment terms
- How it runs
Participation Stage and shorlisting to ITT
ITT stage 1 to include Interim assesment and shortlisting to ITT stage 2
ITT stage 2 Final Tenders (BAFO) and negotiations
Preferred Supplier Stage
- Risks
Risk allocation based upon Assumptions, Qualifications & Exclusions. This may include liabilties, collatoral warratny, retention, PCGs.
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 27 Oct 2025, 16:00 GMT
- Submission deadline
- 27 Oct 2025, 16:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 10 Oct 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk ↗
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via
southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk ↗
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
If you are interested in bidding for this tender, please be aware that you will need to have registered on the central digital platform before you will be able to bid. This will require you to complete some information and then you will be provided with a unique identifier. For more information on how to register, please follow the below link:
how to register on the CDP
Timeline
16 May 2025 → 30 Jun 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published16 May 2025, 09:50 BST
- Market engagement6 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST
SWS are running a request for information relating to this project. To take part in this engagement please follow this link:
southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/guest/go/opport… ↗
and if not registered, register for SWS sourcing portal to access the RFI.
For the avoidance of doubt, the purpose of the market engagement notice and Request for Information (RFI) is to conduct a market testing exercise only, and will not formally begin the procurement nor constitute any commitment by Southern Water to undertake any procurement exercise nor form a commercial strategy in a particular form. Any follow-up discussions are solely for information and planning purposes.
The answers you provide will be invaluable to informing Southern Water’s understanding of the market and provide insight as to how we best deliver value for money to our customers.
The RFI will run from Monday 19th May to Friday 6th June, this period may be extended if SWS feel it beneficial to do so. Any changes to the timings will be communicated via our portal to parties who have expressed an interest and on our opportunity board.
We may undertake more targeted engagement with interested suppliers by interview.
We may run subsequent market engagement events as required.
- Tender notice published400 days ago26 Sept 2025, 14:48 BST
- Next notice expected399 days ago26 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by386 days ago10 Oct 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline369 days ago27 Oct 2025, 16:00 GMT
- Award decision expected by154 days ago29 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts123 days ago30 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
7 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 May 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 May 2025, 09:50 BSTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published2 Sept 2025, 15:49 BSTUK3
- Published value updated to £70,000,0002 Sept 2025, 15:49 BSTwas £50,000,000
- Status changed to planned2 Sept 2025, 15:49 BST
- Procurement method changed2 Sept 2025, 15:49 BST
- Tender notice published26 Sept 2025, 14:48 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active26 Sept 2025, 14:48 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specificationsAccess: SWS will be using the Competitive Flexible Procedure with supplementary processes as outlined in the procurement documents reducing the bids throughout the stages of the procurement. All tender documents are available on our e-sourcing portal https://southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk/ which is provided by Jaggaer. The tender opportunity is separated into different response envelopes for the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ), and following on from this, if a candidate is invited to submit a Tender, the technical and commercial evaluation criteria (the response envelopes used may vary dependant on contract being procured and the procurement procedure being used). Each response envelope will contain supporting documents and information relating to the project, specification, requirements and contract as well as questions for you to answer within our e-sourcing portal, in order for us to evaluate your response. Full information is provided within the IITT document within the sourcing portal. Our Professional Services partner is currently working on producing an outline design for the project please note that these documents will be supplied with the ITT and not the PQQ. Full ITT questions and the activity schedule for pricing will be provided within the ITT stage to shortlisted bidders.
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender