Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 19 Dec 2025, 13:54 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Vegetation Risk Model Solution

Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitable
Sectors: Research & Development (R&D) (73) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline value£1,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 27 Feb 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 19 Aug 2028 · up to 19 Sept 2029 with extensions · starts 19 Aug 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Network Rail is seeking to understand market interest and capabilities to deliver a comprehensive vegetation risk model solution.

Network Rail requires a national comprehensive vegetation risk model that will include all known threats/hazards and will apply risk assessment (risk = likelihood x impact), statistical calculations with weighted parameters and where possible, application of existing or proposed new Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to provide a preventative approach to the dynamic risk that exists in vegetation / trees (created due to seasons, weather, changing profile after tree falls and/or growth over time).

Vegetation poses a risk to the operational railway resulting in suboptimal operation of the railway, and risks to safe train operations. Vegetation such as trees falling/ encroaching onto tracks can block signals and visibility. Risks also include damage to infrastructure and disruption to service.

The comprehensive risk model needs to be dynamic and show risk change throughout the year e.g. leaf fall is highest in Autumn.

For detailed information please refer to the attached documents in the Opportunity Listing in Bravo.

CPV: Research and development services and related consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSME
Contract period: 19 Aug 2026 – 19 Aug 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 19 Sept 2029 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED buys Research and development services (CPV 73), and who usually turns up

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE 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: Research and development services (CPV 73) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED · all categories
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: 11 of 49 known-size awards · market: no supplier sizes published
22%—

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 5 of 13 known-location awards · market: no winner locations published
38%—

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside the delivery region.

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: 10 decided notices · market: no decision dates published
148 days—

Half of these awards were announced within 148 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.

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 54 of 76 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: no bid counts or routes published
71%—

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 buyer16 lots with bid counts · all categories
13% had one bid
The marketNo bid counts published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
1 bid13%
Buyer: 2 of 16 lots with published bid counts.
2–350%
Buyer: 8 of 16 lots with published bid counts.
4–638%
Buyer: 6 of 16 lots with published bid counts.
7+0%
Buyer: 0 of 16 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 buyer6 lots with estimate and award · all categories
83% below estimate
The marketNo estimate-and-award pairs published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
Below estimate83%
Buyer: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%0%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17%
Buyer: 1 of 6 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 #124 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.0m
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 265 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% single-bid risk
Past bids on 265 similar lots
1 bid14%
36 of 265 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–326%
69 of 265 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–630%
80 of 265 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+30%
80 of 265 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
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
19 Dec 2025, 13:54 GMT
Last source update
19 Dec 2025, 14:18 GMT
Authority reference
Vegetation Risk Model Solution
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-084959
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Research and development services and related consultancy services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05fa71 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

19 Dec 2025 → 19 Aug 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published307 days ago
    19 Dec 2025, 13:54 GMT
  2. Market engagement264 days ago
    30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    For further information relating to the scope of this pre-market engagement and the submission process please review the document titled 'Vegetation Risk Model Solution' via the instructions below:

    1. Follow the link: networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html ↗
    2. From the welcome screen access the 'view current opportunities' link and select #42625 'Vegetation Risk Model Solution'
    3. Click on the PDF attachments to view the attached documents.
  3. Tender notice expected236 days ago
    27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts64 days ago
    19 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 Dec 2025
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    19 Dec 2025, 13:54 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    19 Dec 2025, 14:18 GMT
    UK2
  3. Published value updated to £1,000,000
    19 Dec 2025, 14:18 GMT
    was £360,000

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