Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 2 Jul 2026, 11:32 BST

Official UK procurement notice

T181 Leakage Detection Support Services (Secondary contract)

Authority: Northern Ireland Water (Public body)

ServicesUtilities
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Mar 2030 · up to 31 Mar 2033 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

To provide supplementary resources to NI Water’s existing in-house teams for the detection of unreported leaks in the water distribution network.

CPV: Drinking-water distribution · Leak-testing services · Operation of water supplies · Public utilities · Repair and maintenance services · Water distribution · Water distribution and related services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED buys Water distribution (CPV 6511), and who usually turns up

NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Water distribution (CPV 6511) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerNORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED · all categories
The marketWater distribution (CPV 6511) · UK-wide
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 14 of 53 known-size awards · market: division 65 · UK-wide, n=95
26%23%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 21 of 65 known-location awards · market: division 65 · UK-wide, n=102
32%28%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Northern Ireland.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 27 decided notices · market: division 65 · UK-wide, n=14
62 days83 days

Half of these awards were announced within 62 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 9 of 33 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 65 · UK-wide, n=129
27%57%

Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer69 lots with bid counts · all categories
41% had one bid
The market32 lots with bid counts · division 65 · UK-wide
22% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid41% / 22%
Buyer: 28 of 69 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
2–338% / 31%
Buyer: 26 of 69 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
4–619% / 19%
Buyer: 13 of 69 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
7+3% / 28%
Buyer: 2 of 69 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 32 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer27 lots with estimate and award · all categories
22% below estimate
The market22 lots with estimate and award · division 65 · UK-wide
23% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate22% / 23%
Buyer: 6 of 27 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 22 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%37% / 59%
Buyer: 10 of 27 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 22 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate41% / 18%
Buyer: 11 of 27 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 22 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 651136 monthsEstimate not published
Expected competition
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 32 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet22% single-bid risk
Past bids on 32 similar lots
1 bid22%
7 of 32 similar past lots received 1 bid (22%).
2–331%
10 of 32 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–619%
6 of 32 similar past lots received 4–6 (19%).
7+28%
9 of 32 similar past lots received 7+ (28%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Origin Tech LimitedLive contractT101 Satellite Imagery Leakage Detection Servicesruns to Mar 2029—£5.9mMatched as the earlier contract

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.

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.

What this replaces
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

41% title match.

A past supplier may not bid again.

The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (41% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid

T101 Satellite Imagery Leakage Detection Services — held by Origin Tech Limited; the published contract ends 4 Mar 2029.

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
Unspecified in notice
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 Jul 2026, 11:32 BST
Last source update
2 Jul 2026, 11:32 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-062163
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Drinking-water distributionLeak-testing servicesOperation of water suppliesPublic utilitiesRepair and maintenance servicesWater distributionWater distribution and related services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c22f Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

2 Jul 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published111 days ago
    2 Jul 2026, 11:32 BST
  2. Market engagement95 days ago
    17 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    This RfI is a general market enquiry to identify and engage with suppliers who can deliver leakage detection support services to NI Water.

    NI Water is seeking to assess the interest, capacity and capability of the market in providing this type of service.

    NI Water are also interested in receiving feedback from the market on the different experiences, approaches and models used in other sectors / utilities for leakage detection services.

    The RfI Questionnaire and accompanying information document are currently available and you can request a copy via email at [email protected], FAO Heather Kyle.

    The RfI Questionnaire is to be completed and returned no later than 17th July 2026.

    In addition to the RfI, NI Water may hold one-to-one supplier engagement meetings in July/August 2026.

  3. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 162 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Jul 2026, 11:32 BST
    UK2

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

Northern Ireland Water Limited

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PCZH-7295-JJTZ Westland House, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT14 6TEContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure