Official UK procurement notice
Fusion Plant Controls Partner (FPCP)
Authority: UK Fusion Energy Ltd (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis MEN aims to gather information from potential suppliers on solutions and capabilities in relation to the provision of a Fusion Plant Controls Partner. This is not a request for quotation but a preliminary stage to assess the market which will assist with assessing market capabilities and shaping specification. Suppliers responding to this MEN will have the opportunity to contribute insights that may shape the final tender requirements. All answers and correspondence will be used for market sounding purposes only and will be treated confidentially. UK Fusion Energy Ltd (UKFE) are considering the approach to establishing a Whole Plant Control System for the STEP Power Plant (SPP). In doing so it recognises that this system will be a first of a kind (FOAK) in requiring plant control systems able to manage the unique requirements of fusion, whilst also utilising more conventional plant control systems.
To address this UKFE anticipates the need to procure services to develop a definition of fusion plant control, the systems and technology required to achieve this, and integration with conventional plant control infrastructure. UKFE wishes to engage with the market to test its assumptions regarding novelty of the fusion challenge, to understand the current market landscape for the development of this technology, and to test proposals on direction of travel and contracting methodology for achieving an integrated whole plant control system for the SPP.
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:
ukfe.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Abingd… ↗
To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
CPV: Engineering services · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Technical support services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How UK Fusion Energy Ltd buys Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135), and who usually turns up
UK Fusion Energy Ltd’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: Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135) →
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 25 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.
Both shares are minimums: 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% / 11%
2–363% / 39%
4–625% / 33%
7+13% / 17%
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 estimate33% / 46%
Within ±2%67% / 29%
Above estimate0% / 25%
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 71No real estimate
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 71. 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. The bar shows 1,116 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid12%
2–323%
4–629%
7+35%
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
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 3 Jun 2026, 13:56 BST
- Last source update
- 3 Jun 2026, 13:56 BST
- Authority reference
PP-UKFE-32- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-052374- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ac81Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 Jun 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published145 days ago3 Jun 2026, 13:56 BST
- Contract starts145 days ago4 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Market engagement117 days ago1 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
For the purposes of this early market engagement, UK Fusion Energy (UKFE) are considering the approach to establishing a Whole Plant Control System for the STEP Power Plant (SPP). In doing so it recognises that this system will be a first of a kind (FOAK) in requiring plant control systems able to manage the unique requirements of fusion, whilst also utilising more conventional plant control systems.
To address this UKFE anticipates the need to procure services to develop a definition of fusion plant control, the systems and technology required to achieve this, and integration with conventional plant control infrastructure. UKFE wishes to engage with the market to test its assumptions regarding novelty of the fusion challenge, to understand the current market landscape for the development of this technology, and to test proposals on direction of travel and contracting methodology for achieving an integrated whole plant control system for the SPP.
The objective of this Market Engagement is to:
Identify viable whole plant control architecture approaches for a FOAK fusion environment.
Assess market capability to provide specialist OEM systems and/or integration support for safety-critical plant control systems.
Understand approaches to integrating fast physics-based control with conventional industrial control systems.
Explore methods for implementing defence-in-depth control and machine protection architectures within integrated plant systems.
Assess capability to support simulation-led design, virtual commissioning, and progressive system validation.
Understand viable delivery and contracting models, including OEM partnerships, integrator roles, and long-term lifecycle support arrangements; and
Inform procurement strategy, including packaging of scope, allocation of responsibilities, and integration governance model.
To respond to this MEN, please complete and submit Appendix 1: Questionnaire via the facility in the Delta portal by 5pm the 1st July 2026.
Early responses would be appreciated to help inform planning decisions.
If you experience any difficulties with the portal, please contact the portal helpdesk helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com cc operationalprocurement.step@ukifs.uk
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published3 Jun 2026, 13:56 BSTUK2
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