Official UK procurement notice
Thermal Buffer Technology · UK public procurement notice
Authority: UK Fusion Energy Ltd (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe following summary is not intended as a complete or definitive specification of the requirement. A purpose of this engagement is to seek information from the market to help refine our understanding and aid the development of a future specification.
UKIFS is seeking experts to support the design and development of a thermal storage system that integrates with the STEP power cycle. While the power cycle is designed to efficiently integrate heat from the tokamak device during a high power steady state scenario, the power cycle and cooling systems must also be highly flexible to adapt to uncertain prototypic operations e.g. the systems must have the ability to switch on and off and ramp up and down at the start and end of operational periods. Significant thermal power will be generated from the tokamak device during the ‘rapid density rise phase’ of the reactor plasma ramp up, lasting a few minutes. This is an effective ramp of 2GWth generated from the tokamak during these few minutes.
To manage this very immediate and sudden generation of heat from the tokamak, a minimum amount of thermal storage will be needed to increase the thermal inertia of the primary coolant loops, allowing the power cycle to ramp up to 100% load in a timely manner. Further, thermal storage may be needed to enable partial operation of the power cycle during the transition between the initial pre-heat to part load operational period.
The thermal storage system will be expected to extract heat from a hot CO2 primary coolant during the ramp up phase and deliver heat back to the CO2 primary coolant (or to a separate secondary working fluid) during the ramp down phase. The proposed technical operating conditions of the thermal storage system and load requirements are:
-CO2 primary coolant operating pressure: 50 to 150 bar.
-CO2 primary coolant operating temperature: 550°C to 650°C.
-Thermal duty in the region of 800MW.
-Required energy storage of 150MWh.
-Required fast ramping duration in a few minutes.
Systems of interest & key words:
-Thermal energy storage
-Latent heat storage
-Sensible heat storage
-Thermochemical heat storage
-Thermal battery
-Molten salt storage systems
-Molten salt heat exchangers/ steam generators
-Phase change materials
-Metallic phase change materials
-Solid state energy storage
-Packed bed storage
-Concrete battery
-Sand battery
Please note that the CPV codes given in this notice have now been corrected.
To view this notice, please click here:
CPV: Construction works for power plants and heating plants · Design and execution of research and development · Thermal power plant construction work
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How UK Fusion Energy Ltd buys Construction works for plants, mining and manufacturing and for buildings relating to the oil and gas industry (CPV 4525), and who usually turns up
UK Fusion Energy Ltd’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: Construction works for plants, mining and manufacturing and for buildings relating to the oil and gas industry (CPV 4525) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 registered in South East England (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South East England.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 26 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid10% / 10%
2–357% / 20%
4–610% / 50%
7+24% / 20%
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.
Below estimate30% / 55%
Within ±2%65% / 27%
Above estimate5% / 18%
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.
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 4525No real estimate
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 311 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid12%
2–324%
4–628%
7+36%
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.
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.
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.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
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.
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.
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
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 27 Jan 2026, 12:06 GMT
- Last source update
- 28 Jan 2026, 10:05 GMT
- Authority reference
PP-UKIFS-529- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-007421- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060f8fFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
27 Jan 2026 → 1 Apr 2029 · 3 dates- Planning notice published266 days ago27 Jan 2026, 12:06 GMT
- Market engagement206 days ago27 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
To participate in this exercise, please complete and submit Appendix 1: Questionnaire and return any documents via the Delta portal. We are conscious of your time (and grateful to you for taking the time to complete the questionnaire), therefore we suggest you limit your responses to a maximum of 5 pages. If there are any areas you would like to expand on, please add a note to the relevant section for future discussion.
If you experience any difficulties with the portal, please contact the portal helpdesk [email protected] cc [email protected]
Information obtained from responses to Appendix 1: Questionnaire will help UKIFS understand current market capabilities and may shape the scope, direction, and design of the future procurement activities.
If you have any questions about this Preliminary Market Engagement, please contact UKIFS through the Delta portal. We are keen to engage with suppliers to assist with the questionnaire if needed, to ensure quality responses enabling us to shape the future requirement and procurement.
Following the submission and review of questionnaires, UKIFS intends to run an online conference call meeting/seminar/Q&A. The closing date for the pre-market engagement is Friday 27th March 2026, 1 pm.
Please note the CPV codes in this notice are now correct.
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Contract starts1 Apr 2029, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 27 Jan 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Jan 2026, 12:06 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Jan 2026, 10:05 GMTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender