Official UK procurement notice
University Interactions - NDA Research Portfolio - Single Supplier Framework
Authority: Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe scope will include, but not limited to:
1 - Support to the development and delivery of NDA’s University Research Programme.
2 - Establishment and management of contracts with Universities on behalf of the NDA.
3 - Monitoring the impact of the NDA’s University R&D Strategy.
4 - Monitoring delivery of NDA’s PhD portfolio, including industrial supervision of Phd stutents.
5 - Support to the communication of NDA’s University Research Programme.
6 - Direct support of capability in targeted areas
This procurement is looking to establish a single supplier framework for a maximum length of 4 years. (24+12+12 month term)
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Sept 2030, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Research and development services and related consultancy services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Type
- Open framework · open framework scheme (admission reopens)
- Call-offs
- every call-off is a further competition among the appointed suppliers
- Places
- up to 1 suppliers
- Framework period
- 2 yrs · up to 4 yrs from 1 Apr 2027
- Scheme runs until
- 31 Mar 2031
Who may buy through it
Can be utilised by NDA Operating Companies:
Sellafield Ltd, Nuclear Waste Services Ltd, Nuclear Restorations Sites Ltd, International Nuclear Services Ltd and Direct Rail Services Ltd.
Published description of the framework
New 4-year framework - 24+12+12 month term.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£16,000,000
- Economic & financial standing
As detailed within the tender requirements
- Technical & professional ability
As detailed within the tender requirements
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (6)
- Bursary Calls: 20%
- Methodology: 20%
- Contract Management: 10%
- Monitor, measure and maximise the impact and value: 10%
- Schedule of rates: 30%
- Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (6)
- Bursary Calls: To ensure that the NDA continues to receive an influx of innovative ideas and maintain a healthy and diverse academic capability to address civil nuclear decommissioning challenges, NDA regularly issues calls for academic proposals and disseminates research outputs through mechanisms such as the annual bursary seminar and other engagement activities. Describe how your organisation/consortium would facilitate such a call, ensuring that proposed research aligns with NDA's mission, strategic objectives and research priorities.
- Methodology: Describe your methodology regarding how you would provide industrial supervision of PhD students and post-doctoral researchers and how you would support, contribute to and manage the development of relevant academic research programmes. Include details of how industrial supervisors will be selected, developed, managed and performance monitored throughout the framework. The Contractor will be required to provide relevant subject matter experts with extensive knowledge of the academic research environment, as well as developing early career members of their organisation/consortium to provide resilience in this area. Describe how you will fulfil this requirement and, if necessary, work with your wider organisation/consortium to provide the range of skills and experience necessary. Explain how industrial supervisors will maintain alignment between academic outputs and NDA operational or strategic needs.
- Contract Management: NDA directly funded strategic University R&D is prioritised to address: • Multi-site technical needs, risks and opportunities • Support key strategic decisions • Support development of key technical skills and knowledge NDA will require the successful Provider to establish and manage contracts for academic research with Universities on its behalf. Please explain how you (and your consortium, where applicable) will establish and subsequently manage contracts for academic research (e.g. PhD studentships and Post-Doctoral Research Associate programmes) on behalf of NDA
- Monitor, measure and maximise the impact and value: Describe how you would monitor, measure and maximise the impact and value of the NDA University Research Portfolio. NDA is keen to ensure that NDA-funded students obtain the best experience possible throughout their studies to improve the quality of their research output and encourage them to continue their careers in nuclear decommissioning upon completion of their PhD. Describe how your organisation would broaden the opportunities available to academics and increase retention post studies through the University Interactions Framework
- Social Value: The proposal must demonstrate how workforce inequality will be addressed both within the Tenderer's organisation (and wider consortium where applicable) and through the recruitment and support of academic researchers undertaking NDA-sponsored research.
- Schedule of rates
- Economic & financial standing
As detailed within the tender requirements
- Technical & professional ability
As detailed within the tender requirements
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- “University Interactions - NDA Research Portfolio - Single Supplier…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 1 suppliers, not a single contract: each call-off is a further competition, so the pricing contest starts after appointment.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Nuclear Decommissioning Authority buys Research and development services (CPV 73), and who usually turns up
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Research and development services (CPV 73) →
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.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in the delivery region.
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 60 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.
The buyer’s share is a minimum: 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 bid0%
2–380%
4–60%
7+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.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.
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 #1Published estimate£16m
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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–329%
4–623%
7+39%
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.
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
TUV SUD LIMITEDLarge | £12m28 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 11 live · £12m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=3 |
| £22m14 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 2 live · £12m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | no comparable pairs | |
| £9.6m11 awards in 36m · last 2 months ago | 5 live · £165k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 7% below n=1 | |
| £15m30 awards in 36m · last 3 months ago | 3 live · £284k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 4% below n=6 | |
| £12m31 awards in 36m · last 3 months ago | 4 live · £1.0bn iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=4 |
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open admission
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Open framework scheme
- Who may use this agreement
- Can be utilised by NDA Operating Companies: Sellafield Ltd, Nuclear Waste Services Ltd, Nuclear Restorations Sites Ltd, International Nuclear Services Ltd and Direct Rail Services Ltd. · open scheme: new suppliers can join during the term
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 1 Sept 2030
- First published
- 14 Jul 2026, 11:18 BST
- Last source update
- 14 Oct 2026, 11:47 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 13 Jan 2027
- Authority reference
C18647- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-089218- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ca8cFind a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Apply via Atamis (Health Family)- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Appointment period ends
- 20 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 6 Nov 2026, 23:45 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
All tender documents, communication and tender submissions should be submitted via the Atamis Supplier Portal atamis-2464.my.site.com/ProSpend__CustomComm… ↗
Timeline
14 Jul 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 9 dates- Planning notice published100 days ago14 Jul 2026, 11:18 BST
- Market engagement72 days ago11 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
A supplier engagement event will take place on MSTeams on 11/08/2026 at 11am (UK Time)
To attend the session please e-mail [email protected]
- Next notice expected51 days ago1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published31 days ago21 Sept 2026, 14:31 BST
- Latest notice published8 days ago14 Oct 2026, 11:47 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Clarification questions byin 15 days6 Nov 2026, 23:45 GMT
- Admission / appointment period endsin 29 days · period end, not a bid countdown20 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 83 days13 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 160 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
7 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 Jul 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published14 Jul 2026, 11:18 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published21 Sept 2026, 14:31 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active21 Sept 2026, 14:31 BST
- Procurement method changed21 Sept 2026, 14:31 BST
- Deadline published: 22 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST21 Sept 2026, 14:31 BST
- Tender notice published14 Oct 2026, 11:47 BSTUK4
- Deadline moved to 20 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT14 Oct 2026, 11:47 BST+29 days · was 22 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
Published amendments (1)
Change to the tender submission date
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- 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 (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender