Official UK procurement notice
Continuous Testing (PTaaS) Service Agreement
Authority: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionIMPORTANT: Please read this section before deciding whether you wish to register for this event. This section provides you with information regarding the scope of this procurement and details some of the key requirements that a successful applicant MUST be able to deliver.
This tender is for a new direct contract for a Continuous Testing supplier to implement and provide a fully governed continuous testing framework for IT covering penetration testing, red/purple team exercises, cyber stress testing, vulnerability discovery and remediation re-testing. The preferred supplier must support red and purple team testing that will include a multi phase continuous testing model (e.g. tag and release), where red team activity transitions into purple teaming upon detection, and findings are shared in cycle while testing continues across subsequent phases.
The service must include active collaboration with Thames Water teams during purple team activities, including validation of controls, detection capability, and response processes.
The solution must demonstrate clear human oversight across testing, validation, and remediation activities, with automation used to support workflows (e.g. tracking, reporting, prioritisation) but not to replace core testing, validation, or assurance activities.
The supplier must support collaborative remediation and retesting, ensuring findings are handed over, validated, and retested with Thames Water teams, with end to end traceability through to closure.
The following conditions would be considered as some of key requirements for a supplier to meet to be considered for this opportunity:
- Availability of a yearly penetration test as a minimum
- A fully functional PTaaS service that can deliver service in line with applicable cadences
- A qualified, accredited and suitably vetted PTaaS support team
Thames Water reserves the right to refine the award criteria. Please note that that deadline for asking for access to the PSQ & submitting of the PSQ is Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at 12 p.m.
- How the procedure runs: This Competitive Flexible Procedure will be a multi-stage process featuring a PSQ phase, and then a multi-stage ITN phase. The PSQ phase will invite through no more than six (6) Suppliers to the first stage of the ITN. The ITN will then be split into two stages. Stage 1 will invite Suppliers to provide commercial and technical responses to the requirements and associated technical questions whilst Stage 2 will progress chosen Suppliers to a further negotiation and presentation stage. Further information regarding the make-up of the competition can be found enclosed within the process pack.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£2,000,000
- Condition of participationshortlisting
There are a combination of Pass/Fail evaluated questions and technical questions which will be evaluated. A detailed explanation of what is expected from bidders for each evaluated question is available in the procurement documentation through our sourcing platform Ariba.
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 (2)
- Technical: 70%
- Commercial: 30%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical
- Commercial
- Condition of participationshortlisting
There are a combination of Pass/Fail evaluated questions and technical questions which will be evaluated. A detailed explanation of what is expected from bidders for each evaluated question is available in the procurement documentation through our sourcing platform Ariba.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £1,332,117 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED buys IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72), and who usually turns up
THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →
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 in 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 168 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.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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 bid12%
2–328%
4–628%
7+32%
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 estimate0% / 46%
Within ±2%100% / 37%
Above estimate0% / 16%
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 72Published estimate£2.0m
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 72. The comparison uses that group.
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 bid7%
2–338%
4–644%
7+10%
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.
Based on 76 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£2.0m
Estimate£2.0m
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| £3.1bn49 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 20 live · £6.0bn 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=14 | |
CapgeminiLarge | £594m33 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 5 live · £567m 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=2 |
| £36m52 awards in 36m · last this month | 17 live · £17m 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=15 | |
JiscLarge | £54m62 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 36 live · £47m 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. | 3% below n=1 |
Microsoft LtdLarge | £75m45 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 17 live · £5.3m 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 |
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
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Requests to participate open
- 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
- 7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Last source update
- 7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 29 Jan 2027
- Authority reference
FA2445- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-094688- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078297Find a Tender
- How it runs
This Competitive Flexible Procedure will be a multi-stage process featuring a PSQ phase, and then a multi-stage ITN phase. The PSQ phase will invite through no more than six (6) Suppliers to the first stage of the ITN. The ITN will then be split into two stages. Stage 1 will invite Suppliers to provide commercial and technical responses to the requirements and associated technical questions whilst Stage 2 will progress chosen Suppliers to a further negotiation and presentation stage.
Further information regarding the make-up of the competition can be found enclosed within the process pack.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via portal- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 3 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Tender submission deadline
- 3 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 20 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
If you are interested in participating, please complete this form:
Timeline
7 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 5 dates- Tender notice published19 days ago7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Clarification questions by6 days ago20 Oct 2026, 17:00 BST
- Today26 Oct 2026
- Submission deadlinein 8 days3 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 95 days29 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 156 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BSTUK4
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender