Official UK procurement notice
Streetlighting Services - Maintenance & Capital programme
Authority: Stoke on Trent City Council (Local council)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionFuture Street Lighting Service
What Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council are seeking from the market
Staffordshire County Council (SCC) and Stoke-on-Trent City Council (SoTCC) are working together to develop successor arrangements for their existing street lighting PFI contracts, which expire on 18 May 2028 and 31 August 2028 respectively. Our priority is to secure a safe, legal, reliable and value-for-money service, with effective mobilisation and uninterrupted service continuity from the relevant commencement date for each authority.
Our anticipated requirement
Subject to the outcome of the business case and formal approvals, the current direction is a jointly procured, single-contractor service, potentially comprising separate authority-specific arrangements under a common commercial and technical structure.
The anticipated scope includes:
• planned, preventative and reactive maintenance;
• emergency attendance and response;
• electrical and structural inspections, testing and compliance;
• investigation and repair of faults referred by the authorities;
• access to professional, technical and street lighting design services where required;
• delivery of flexible capital investment and asset-replacement programmes;
Read the full description (3,117 more characters)
• maintenance of accurate, accessible and authority-owned asset information;
• customer, stakeholder and third-party liaison; and
• mobilisation, transition and service-continuity support.
This integrated model is intended to provide clear end-to-end accountability while retaining flexibility for design services to be commissioned through the contractor where required, thereby managing operational interfaces and supporting effective delivery.
The present planning assumption is an initial four-year contract with an option to extend for up to a further four years. Any extension would be subject to satisfactory performance, affordability, value for money and the requirements of the successor authorities.
What we want from our future contractor
We are looking for a capable and collaborative delivery partner that can:
• Protect public safety and statutory compliance, supported by competent people, robust systems and clearly defined emergency and routine response arrangements.
• Deliver a reliable, customer-focused service, responding to faults referred by the authorities and completing investigations and repairs within agreed service levels, while supporting the authorities’ management of customer enquiries and complaints.
• Assume clear operational accountability across maintenance, inspection and capital delivery, with the capability to provide design services when commissioned and to work effectively with each authority’s intelligent-client team.
• Demonstrate whole-life value, balancing maintenance, energy consumption, capital replacement, risk, asset condition and long-term affordability rather than focusing only on the lowest initial price.
• Mobilise successfully from the existing PFI arrangements, including the controlled transfer and validation of asset, maintenance, condition and operational information.
• Maintain high-quality asset data, with open access for the authorities, appropriate interfaces with authority systems and no avoidable supplier dependency.
• Provide flexibility, allowing each authority to vary investment levels, service priorities and programmes within an agreed contractual framework.
• Drive measurable improvement, including energy efficiency, carbon reduction, productivity, digital working and appropriate use of central management, smart asset and connectivity technologies.
• Support responsible employment and supply-chain practices, including workforce transition where applicable, health and safety, skills development, local economic benefit, social value and opportunities for SMEs.
• Operate through open-book, evidence-led contract management, with meaningful performance measures, timely reporting, effective escalation and a constructive approach to resolving problems.
• Identify innovation and commercial opportunities, where these offer a demonstrable benefit to the authorities and communities, with benefits, savings and risks shared on a fair and transparent basis.
These expectations reflect the authorities’ emphasis on whole-life value, flexibility, innovation, energy efficiency, clear service levels, effective KPIs and strong contract management.
CPV: Repair, maintenance and associated services related to roads and other equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Lot 1PlannedRenewal
- Extensions
- Extension options published
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
- 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
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 21 Sept 2026, 11:42 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Sept 2026, 11:42 BST
- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07763c
How it was run
- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 published dates · Europe/London- Planning notice published1 day ago21 Sept 2026, 11:42 BST
- Market engagementin 25 days17 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST
Purpose of this engagement At this stage, we are seeking to understand: 1. whether suitably experienced organisations would be interested in tendering for the proposed service; 2. whether the anticipated scope and contract structure are deliverable and commercially attractive; 3. the information more…
that bidders would need to prepare a robust response and manage the service confidently; 4. the principal mobilisation, workforce, asset-data and supply-chain risks; and 5. any proportionate changes that could improve competition, deliverability or whole-life value. This engagement is exploratory and does not represent a call for competition or a commitment to a particular procurement route, scope, value or contract structure. Detailed innovation proposals and binding commercial submissions would be addressed through the subsequent procurement process. If you are interested in this procurement, please confirm your interest by emailing [email protected] by 16th October 2026. - Contract starts19 May 2028, 01:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 Sept 2026, 11:42 BSTUK2
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Staffordshire County CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender