Official UK procurement notice
Software for Cable Thermal Ratings, Tunnel Thermal Modelling and Specialist Calculation capabilities (RoCiT, DRY, THORIN, RAUROS)
Authority: NATIONAL GRID UK LIMITED (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain structured input from the market regarding the functional, technical, commercial, and non-functional capabilities required to support a future cable thermal rating and specialist calculation platform for National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET).
NGET is seeking to understand the availability, maturity, and suitability of solutions that can support the replacement, enhancement, or evolution of existing in-house engineering capabilities, including:
- RoCiT - tunnel cable thermal modelling
- DRY - direct burial dry-out and effective backfill diameter calculation
- THORIN - effective backfill modelling for solid-filled troughs and non-standard geometries
- RAUROS - thermal modelling of water-cooled cable systems
In addition, NGET is interested in understanding broader rating enhancement capabilities and specialist calculation tools that improve modelling accuracy in complex installation environments.
Through this RFI, NGET aims to gather insight into:
- Supplier capability, domain expertise, and relevant experience in cable thermal modelling
- Product maturity, technical readiness, and proven use in comparable utility environments
- Commercial models, including licensing approaches, modular pricing (including specialist calculators), total cost of ownership, and flexibility to scale
- Architectural approaches, integration patterns, and deployment models appropriate for a Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) environment
- Security, scalability, and compliance considerations
- Implementation methodologies, delivery approaches, and associated risks
- Availability of integrated or modular solutions, including core rating engines and supporting calculators
This RFI will inform NGET's future sourcing strategy and solution design, including the potential adoption of product- based, configurable, bespoke, or hybrid approaches, as well as appropriate commercial and contracting structures.
The objective is to identify solutions that can deliver engineering-grade, transparent, auditable, and reproducible calculations, while supporting long-term maintainability, extensibility, and alignment with evolving operational, regulatory, and commercial requirements.
CPV: Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How NATIONAL GRID UK LIMITED buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up
NATIONAL GRID UK LIMITED has little published record in this market. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →
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 30% 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.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Across this market, 29% 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 62 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 66% 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 bid16%
2–331%
4–632%
7+22%
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 estimate55%
Within ±2%25%
Above estimate20%
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 48Estimate not published
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 48. 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 377 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid16%
2–331%
4–632%
7+22%
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
- Goods
- 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
- 8 Jul 2026, 14:16 BST
- Last source update
- 8 Jul 2026, 14:16 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-064265- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c684Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
8 Jul 2026 → 15 Jan 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published112 days ago8 Jul 2026, 14:16 BST
- Market engagement95 days ago24 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
Contact details: box.software-procurement@nationalgrid.com if you would like to receive the RFI document.
Please send in your written response by 23:00 (UK time) on 24 July 2026 to box.software-procurement@nationalgrid.com
You may include diagrams and drawings along with your written content.
- Tender notice expected54 days ago3 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 78 days15 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Jul 2026, 14:16 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