Official UK procurement notice
Cwm Taf Water Supply Strategy Procurement Scheme - Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC)
Authority: Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionScope
Update to Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
This update to the Preliminary Market Engagement Notice published on 24 July 2026 (notice identifier 2026/S 000-070264) provides details of the next phase of market engagement for the Cwm Taf Water Supply Strategy, ahead of the planned procurement launch in Q1 2027.
The “Engagement” section has been revised to summarise engagement undertaken to date and to provide information on a Meet The Buyer event on 10 November 2026, and details in relation to a data room to be made available before planned procurement launch. These arrangements replace the corresponding Engagement and Registration section in the 24 July 2026 notice.
Earlier engagement in respect of the Cwm Taf WSS was advertised in the notice published on 10 November 2025 (notice identifier 2025/S 000-072565).
Except as expressly amended by this update, the information published in notice 2026/S 000-070264 remains unchanged.
Description
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) is the largest water and sewerage company in Wales and the sixth largest operating in England and Wales. Responsible for providing high-quality drinking water for over three million customers and for taking away, treating and properly disposing of the wastewater that is produced.
DCWW is committed to securing water supplies for future generations while protecting the environment. Our primary responsibility is to operate, maintain and upgrade this large network of assets to ensure a safe and reliable drinking water supply and to deal effectively with discharges so as to protect the environment.
As part of its Cwm Taf Water Supply Strategy (“Cwm Taf WSS”), DCWW is seeking to progress a major investment project to design and build new water treatment works and develop an existing water treatment works (the Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme). The Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme has been designated under Ofwat's Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) programme. The Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme is intended to be delivered primarily on two separate sites, one located in the vicinity of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales and one within the boundaries of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
DCWW is looking to appoint a Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) utilising the Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) model. The scheme includes the Design, Build and Finance (DBF) of a new water treatment works on an agricultural land at Dan-y-Castell Farm, along with a raw water pumping station at Pontsticill (referred to as the Dan-y-Castell project) and Llwyn-onn Water Treatment Works upgrade (referred to as the Llwyn-onn project). The Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme is therefore a two-site project comprising Dan-y-Castell (currently with an estimated value of £434,400,000 including VAT / £362,000,000 excluding VAT) and Llwyn-onn (currently with an estimated value of £232,800,000 including VAT / £194,000,000 excluding VAT).
The Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme includes (but is not limited to):
- Water Treatment Works
- Pumping stations
- Transfer pipelines
- Environmental and mitigation measures
- Treated Water Storage
Across its market engagement activities, DCWW has been seeking engagement from organisations capable of supporting the delivery and financing of a secure, sustainable and value-driven solution for customers through this major DPC-designated infrastructure project. The engagement activities to date and activities highlighted in the update to this notice will support the ongoing development of the procurement and commercial strategies (and associated documentation) and will help inform the delivery of the Cwm Taf WSS and the sustainable and environmental objectives of the Welsh Government, including (but not limited to) the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
The current market engagement activities and participation arrangements are set out in the Engagement section below.
Following a competitive procurement competition, CAP contract award is anticipated to be late 2028. The CAP contract will progress the Scheme through detailed design, construction, testing and commissioning activities, including an anticipated 12 month Reliability and Optimisation Period. The Scheme will then be completed to allow commencement of the DCWW managed operational term. All dates are indicative.
All values and dates set out in this preliminary market engagement notice are indicative. This notice is not a call for competition, a tender notice, or a commitment to procure.
CPV: Banking and investment services · Construction management services · Construction project management services · Construction work · Construction work for water and sewage pipelines · Construction work for water projects · Construction-related services · Corporate finance and venture capital services · Drinking-water treatment plant construction work · Engineering design services for the construction of civil engineering works · General construction work for pipelines · Water distribution and related services · +1 more
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig buys Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523), and who usually turns up
Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig has little published record in this market. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523) →
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.
Across this market, small firms won 79% of awards with a known supplier size.
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. The market figure counts awards delivered in Wales (Cymru).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Across this market, 79% of winners were registered in the delivery region.
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 52 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.
Across this market, at least 33% of awarded procurements had no recorded rival.
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 bid20%
2–350%
4–620%
7+10%
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 estimate71%
Within ±2%14%
Above estimate14%
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 4525Published estimate£556m
This lot is listed as CPV 4525. 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 116 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid15%
2–336%
4–634%
7+15%
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
- Works
- 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
- 28 Oct 2026, 13:04 GMT
- Last source update
- 28 Oct 2026, 13:04 GMT
- Authority reference
DCWW1994- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-102059- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-079266Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
28 Oct 2026 → 30 Nov 2028 · 3 dates- Planning notice published12h ago28 Oct 2026, 13:04 GMT
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 6 days4 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Engagement
A. Engagement undertaken to date
DCWW has undertaken market engagement activities for the Cwm Taf WSS scheme, including the November 2025 market engagement event advertised in notice 2025/S 000-072565; targeted engagement with prospective investors and lenders, and market engagement events held in Cardiff on 8 September 2026 and London on 9 September 2026, as advertised in notice 2026/S 000-070264.
Feedback on the proposed CAP Agreement structure, risk allocation, payment mechanism, financing approach and procurement strategy has informed DCWW's on-going development of the procurement competition and associated documentation.
DCWW is now progressing further market engagement ahead of the planned procurement launch in Q1 2027.
B. Supply chain conference: Delivering the next generation of water infrastructure for Wales – 10th November 2026
DCWW intends to hold a supply chain event on 10 November 2026 at the International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales), Coldra Wood Drive, Newport, NP18 1DE. The event is a DCWW wide event and will cover opportunities across DCWW’s programmes including a Cwm Taf WSS element.
The Cwm Taf WSS element will provide an update on the scheme's progress and its developing procurement approach, together with opportunities for any interested organisation to meet potential partners or future consortium members, DCWW supply-chain organisations and local Welsh businesses. The networking opportunities are intended to support consortium formation and potential supply chain relationships ahead of the procurement launch.
Registration
Organisations should register via Business Wales wales.business-events.org.uk/en/events/supply-cha… ↗ by 4 November 2026.
Who Should Participate
From a Cwm Taf WSS perspective, participation is encouraged from:
- Infrastructure investors and major infrastructure financing bodies
- Design, construction and engineering firms
- Contractors and other delivery organisations
DCWW welcomes participation from existing joint ventures and consortia and encourages the formation of new partnerships where appropriate.
C. Pre-Procurement Data Room
DCWW intends to make a data room available in November 2026. It will provide interested organisations with access to selected scheme, technical and procurement information to support their assessment of the opportunity in advance of procurement launch.
The information is expected to include:
- Scheme and technical information,
- The proposed procurement approach,
- Market engagement materials, and
- Key themes arising from market feedback across the targeted investor and lender engagement, and in-person events.
Any information uploaded by DCWW to the data room will be preliminary and subject to further development. It will not constitute the full procurement documentation. DCWW requirements will only be set out in the procurement documents issued as part of the competition.
Details on how to access the data room will be made available in a future UK3 Planned Procurement Notice.
D. Future Market Engagement
DCWW may undertake additional market engagement activities before procurement launch and will notify the market, as appropriate, of any additional activities and participation arrangements.
General
Participation in any market engagement activity is not a condition of participation in any future procurement process. DCWW may use information obtained through these engagement activities to refine its procurement strategy, commercial model, contractual arrangements and procurement documentation. Details of the preliminary market engagement activities, documents shared, key themes arising from feedback and any relevant questions and answers will be made available to the market as appropriate and reflected in the procurement documentation issued at the launch of the competitive process.
DCWW reserves the right to alter or terminate the market engagement process at any time without notice.
DCWW is not liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any party in responding to this market engagement.
Submission of a response to or participating in any market engagement activity does not guarantee inclusion in any future procurement process.
DCWW reserves the right to enter into further rounds of pre-market engagement.
All future procurement opportunities will be published through the Central Digital platform (CDP).
DCWW will process your personal data, such as your name and contact details, in accordance with its obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. Your personal data will be used for the purposes contacting you for further information and to invite participation in future market engagement activities connected with the Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme only. Any information you provide may be shared with our Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme commercial and or legal advisors.
Further information on the Cwm Taf WSS Procurement Scheme and the market engagement announced in July 2026 can be found in the supporting press release available at: corporate.dwrcymru.com/en/news-media/2026/w… ↗
- Contract starts30 Nov 2028
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Oct 2026, 13:04 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