Official UK procurement notice
Supply of Long and Short Rail and Ancillary Services
Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionAward of the Supply of Steel Rail and ancillary services to Network Rail (NR) for a period of up to 8 years. The scope for supply of steel rail within this notice includes the potential to include all of Network Rail and its subsidiaries, including but not limited to Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd and Network Rail High Speed and also to those organisations covered by our external business framework including Transport for Wales and as an occasional joint procurement with HS2 Ltd.
CPV: Drilling services · Rails · Railway-track construction materials and supplies · Welding
How this framework works
From the published notice- Bids received
- 1 bids received · 2 suppliers appointed
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Supply of Steel Rail Long and Short and Ancillary ServicesAwarded
Network Rail has appointed 1 Supplier. Long Rail/Short Rail Package. The Supplier shall provide 108m/216m rail in 56E1 and 60E2 profiles and in both R260 grade
and Premium grades. The Supplier shall provide the above with corrosion resistant coating when requested by Network Rail.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0025 Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (Directive 2014/25/EU)
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 28 Jun 2023, 14:53 BST
- Last source update
- 10 Jul 2025, 12:44 BST
- Authority reference
28680- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-038923- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-03dd3bFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons
- Published justification
The basis of the direct award to British Steel is Regulation 50(1)(c)(ii) UCR2016 on the grounds that competition is absent for technical reasons. Network Rail has undertook market engagement which has confirmed there is no other supplier with a long-rail welding facility in Great Britain or who has indicated that they would be prepared to construct one at present or in the foreseeable future. Network Rail has held an openly advertised competition for certain steel products including volumes of steel rail where the market engagement has indicated that access to NR's own welding facility is such that there is likely to be at least a degree of competition; this assumption was proved to be correct.
- Review procedure
Network Rail will not enter into a contract before a 10 day standstill period has passed from the date of publication of this notice.
Publisher note: The scope for supply of steel rail within this notice includes the potential to include all of Network Rail and its subsidiaries, including but not limited to Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd and Network Rail High Speed and also to those organisations covered by our external business framework including Transport for Wales and as an occasional joint procurement with HS2 Ltd. Network Rail reserves the right to flex volume commitments and related advertised value ranges between lots covered by this notice and the Award Notice for Lots 2-6 in the circumstance described in the documentation at Schedule 11 Financial Difficulties.
Notice history
1 event · 3 releases on Find a Tender- Buyer details updated9 Oct 2023, 14:50 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast3 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.
Contracts
Supply of Steel Rail and Ancillary Services
- Signed
- 17 Jun 2025
- Value
- £718,082,360
- Status
- active
'Green' Steel Rail Trial
- Signed
- 9 Oct 2023
- Value
- £826,098
- Status
- active
Supply of Long and Short Rail and Ancillary Services
- Signed
- 30 Jan 2023
- Value
- £860,288,290
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids · 1 electronic · 2 from abroad | — | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeDispute resolution & review bodies
- High CourtReview body
Framework contractors & participating bidders
3 commercial parties on the notice- British Steel LimitedFramework contractor
- British Steel LimitedFramework contractor
- Saarstahl Rail SASFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.