Official UK procurement notice
W&W Frontline Labour Framework Market Engagement
Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionPlease note the contract start and end dates are to be confirmed. The dates represented in this notice are incorrect.
Network Rail is undertaking preliminary market engagement in relation to the potential future provision of frontline labour services for the Wales Route and the Western Route.
The current Frontline Labour Framework provides principal vendor arrangements for the supply of core frontline labour across geographic lots, supported by national specialist lots covering Electrification & Plant (E&P) and Signalling & Telecoms (S&T) grades. As part of an ongoing category and route-level review, Network Rail is considering whether future requirements for the Wales and Western Routes could be delivered through separate route-based frameworks, procured independently of other regions.
The services in scope are expected to include the provision of frontline rail labour to support maintenance and enhancement activities on Network Rail infrastructure, including (but not limited to):
Track (core) labour
Civils (core) labour
Trackworker protection roles
Semi-professional grades
Sentinel-sponsored and competence-managed rail labour
All supplied personnel would be required to meet relevant industry standards, including Sentinel requirements and applicable Network Rail assurance, safety and competency frameworks.
Through this preliminary market engagement exercise, Network Rail seeks to:
Assess market capability and capacity to support route-specific frontline labour frameworks;
Understand existing supplier presence and labour pool availability within the Wales and Western Routes;
Test supplier appetite to bid for one or both route-based frameworks;
Explore mobilisation, resilience and delivery considerations under a route-led procurement model;
Gather insight into potential opportunities to enhance operational responsiveness, local accountability and overall value.
This notice is issued for market engagement purposes only. It does not constitute a call for competition, does not commit Network Rail to undertake any procurement, and does not form part of a formal procurement process. Any future procurement would be subject to separate notice in accordance with applicable procurement regulations.
Network Rail welcomes responses from both incumbent and non-incumbent suppliers with relevant frontline rail labour capability.
CPV: Highways consultancy services · Placement services of personnel · Railway construction works · Railway engineering services · Railway-track maintenance services · Repair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment · Supply services of personnel including temporary staff · Transport systems consultancy services · Underground railway station · Urban railway works
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 2 yrs 3 mo from 31 Jul 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat 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).
- “W&W Frontline Labour Framework Market Engagement” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED buys Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131), and who usually turns up
NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) →
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 91 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 market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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 bid8% / 2%
2–325% / 9%
4–667% / 25%
7+0% / 64%
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 price is set later, on each call-off.
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 4523Published estimate£42m
This lot is listed as CPV 4523. The table above uses the notice category.
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 185 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid3%
2–321%
4–638%
7+38%
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
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 11 Feb 2026, 14:16 GMT
- Last source update
- 11 Feb 2026, 14:16 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-012449- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-064df9Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
11 Feb 2026 → 31 Jul 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published256 days ago11 Feb 2026, 14:16 GMT
- Market engagement239 days ago27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
How to Participate
- Access the Microsoft Form using the link - forms.office.com/e/ndSXCLmaS6 ↗
- Review all questions carefully and provide complete responses.
- Submit the form electronically by selecting “Submit” at the end of the questionnaire.
All responses must be submitted via the Microsoft Form. Responses submitted via email will not be accepted unless specifically requested by Network Rail.
Deadline for Responses
The closing date for submission of responses is:
27th February 2026 16:00
Responses received after this deadline may not be considered as part of this engagement.
Clarifications
If you require clarification regarding this market engagement exercise, please submit your query via email to:
Network Rail may share clarification responses in anonymised form where considered relevant to all participants.
Important Information
This market engagement exercise is for information-gathering purposes only. It does not constitute a call for competition, does not form part of a formal procurement process, and does not commit Network Rail to undertake any procurement activity.
Participation (or non-participation) in this engagement will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement process.
Network Rail reserves the right to:
- Amend or discontinue this engagement exercise;
- Not proceed with any procurement;
- Conduct further engagement activities if required
- Tender notice expected72 days ago14 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 278 days31 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published11 Feb 2026, 14:16 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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender