Find a TenderPast planning noticePreliminary market engagement notice
Published 2 Jun 2025, 15:04 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Supply of Tubular Stretcher Bars (TSBs)

Official notice

Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)

GoodsAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 1 Mar 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 1 Apr 2030 · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This premarket engagement is looking to engage with the market to understand the level of interest and capacity for the manufacture and supply of Tubular Stretcher Bars (TSBs). As these TSBs are a safety critical component to the track they will require product approval.

Historic demand over the last four years has seen an average spend of £1.75m to £3m a year which tranlsates to a range of 5,000 to 10,000 units sourced a year. Due to the volatile demand for this good, Network Rail is unable to forecast further than 6 months for demand.

CPV: Railway materials · Railway-track construction materials and supplies

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 1 Apr 2030 (3 yrs)
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Past planning notice
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
2 Jun 2025, 15:04 BST
Last source update
27 Mar 2026, 16:05 GMT
Authority reference
FBR6203
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-028701
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Railway materialsRailway-track construction materials and supplies
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-052acb Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

2 Jun 2025 → 1 Apr 2027 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    2 Jun 2025, 15:04 BST
  2. Tender notice expected242 days ago
    1 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
  3. Latest notice published216 days ago
    27 Mar 2026, 16:05 GMT
  4. Market engagement202 days ago
    10 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    Network Rail is undertaking a market engagement exercise to understand the level of interest and capacity for the manufacture and supply of Tubular Stretcher Bars (TSBs). These goods will be required to be manufactured to specified standards with product approval required.

    This engagement aims to gather information from suppliers who have the technical capability, production capacity, and supply-chain readiness to support Network Rail’s ongoing requirements.

    Documents attached to the market engagement provides detail around the TSBs and what is required.

    During the engagement window, suppliers may submit clarification questions using the correspondence function within Bravo. All clarification responses will be issued through the portal to ensure fairness and transparency.

    The Procurement Documents can be downloaded from Network Rail's BravoNR sourcing platform via this link.

    networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html ↗

    From the welcome screen, access the 'Current Opportunities' link and select:

    pqq_3886 - Supply of Tubular Stretcher Bars (TSBs)

    Network Rail welcomes participation from all interested suppliers, including established manufacturers, innovators and potential new entrants to the market. Responses received will inform future strategy and ensure the supply chain is well positioned for potential forthcoming opportunities.

    Non participation in this market engagement will not preclude any organisation from taking part in future procurement processes. Should a formal procurement exercise be launched, Network Rail will publish a tender notice as a call for competition.

  5. Today
    30 Oct 2026
  6. Contract startsin 152 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 2 Jun 2025
  1. Pipeline notice published
    2 Jun 2025, 15:04 BST
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    27 Mar 2026, 16:05 GMT
    UK2
  3. Published value updated to £0
    27 Mar 2026, 16:05 GMT
    was £15,000,000

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

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PNZN-9524-VCQJ Waterloo General Office, London, London, SE1 8SWContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure