Official UK procurement notice
Future Offshore Wind – March 2026 Market Questionnaire – Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Authority: The Crown Estate (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Crown Estate, as manager of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, periodically holds competitive tenders to award seabed rights for the development, construction and operation of offshore wind farms.
In September 2024, The Crown Estate set out its approach to bringing such future tenders to market in its Future of Offshore Wind publication (Future of offshore wind | The Crown Estate). This was published alongside a report setting out our ambition to develop a Marine Delivery Routemap, which is intended to help enable a more holistic approach to be taken in relation to seabed development in the future.
With the recent announcement of our intention to launch a new leasing round in 2027 (Offshore Wind Leasing Round 6) and building on the approach taken by The Crown Estate in previous leasing rounds, such as Offshore Wind Leasing Rounds 4 and 5, The Crown Estate is committed to engaging with a broad spectrum of market participants and other stakeholders to inform the development of its future leasing processes. In this context, The Crown Estate is undertaking market engagement through a questionnaire to gather input on the design of future leasing rounds. This questionnaire is targeted at offshore wind developers and investors only and will be open to responses from 30 March 2026 to 8 May 2026. (An extension to the deadline to reply has been requested by two developers and an extra 7 days allowed for this.)
It is hoped that this market engagement questionnaire will provide The Crown Estate with a further opportunity to listen to and understand individual and industry-wide perspectives, thereby ensuring that the evolving needs and priorities of the offshore wind sector as a whole can be taken into account by The Crown Estate when shaping future leasing opportunities.
This market engagement is intended for existing and prospective offshore wind developers and investors only i.e. those who may be interested in bidding in a leasing round, either as a sole bidder or as part of a consortium. If offshore wind project development and investment companies wish to participate in this market engagement event, then they should apply by sending an email to round6@thecrownestate.co.uk. The Crown Estate intends to engage with other relevant stakeholders separately at appropriate times and in an appropriate way.
The Crown Estate is in the process of designing future offshore wind leasing rounds, which these discussions will inform. There is currently no formal date for the launch of the next offshore wind leasing round. The date set out below (the “Engagement deadline”) refers to the engagement activity which is the subject of this PME Notice, rather than any contract notice for a leasing process.
For further information on The Crown Estate’s involvement in offshore wind, please visit www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/marine/… ↗
CPV: Construction-related services · Electricity · Electricity supply installations · Wind farm · Wind turbines · Works for complete or part construction and civil engineering work
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How The Crown Estate buys Generators (CPV 3112), and who usually turns up
The Crown Estate’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: Generators (CPV 3112) →
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 63 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% / 19%
2–327% / 39%
4–633% / 29%
7+40% / 13%
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 estimate30% / 43%
Within ±2%50% / 32%
Above estimate20% / 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 3112Estimate not published
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 168 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid19%
2–339%
4–629%
7+13%
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
- 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
- 22 Jan 2026, 11:55 GMT
- Last source update
- 11 May 2026, 14:11 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-043034- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060c13Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
22 Jan 2026 → 11 May 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published279 days ago22 Jan 2026, 11:55 GMT
- Contract starts213 days ago30 Mar 2026, 00:00 BST
- Market engagement173 days ago8 May 2026, 23:59 BST
This engagement activity is targeted at offshore wind developers and investors with one response per organisation requested.
Stages – Market Engagement:
To register your interest for this activity, please email: round6@thecrownestate.co.uk.
You may register after the questionnaire has been launched but any responses received after 6 pm (GMT) on 1 May 2026 may not be considered.
One questionnaire will be sent to each registered party from 30 March 2026.
Questionnaire to be completed online. The questionnaire will be open between 30 March 2026 to 8 May 2026.
- Latest notice published170 days ago11 May 2026, 14:11 BST
Notice history
6 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 22 Jan 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Jan 2026, 11:55 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Jan 2026, 12:33 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Feb 2026, 14:51 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published30 Mar 2026, 15:53 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published11 May 2026, 14:08 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published11 May 2026, 14:11 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
An extension to the deadline to reply has been requested by two developers and an extra 7 days allowed for this. The deadline has now been extended to 8 May 2026 and a new notice published to reflect these changes.
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2026-02: 1 release · 18 Feb 2026
- 2026-01: 2 releases · 22 Jan 2026, 22 Jan 2026
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 (6)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender