Official UK procurement notice
White Horse Reservoir (WHR) Independent Technical Advisor (ITA)
Authority: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThames Water Utilities Limited is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) in relation to the proposed procurement of an Independent Technical Advisor (ITA) for the White Horse Reservoir (WHR) project.
The purpose of this market engagement is to obtain feedback from the market to help inform the development of the requirement, including the proposed scope of services, commercial approach, procurement strategy, market capacity and capability, and key delivery considerations.
The ITA is anticipated to provide independent technical, commercial, programme, risk and regulatory assurance services in support of the project's governance and delivery arrangements. The services are expected to cover both the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) stage and the subsequent Delivery stage of the project.
Feedback received through this engagement will be used to help shape the final procurement approach and supporting documentation for the proposed ITA appointment.For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at:
www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Readin… ↗
To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
CPV: Advisory and consultative engineering services · Construction project management services · General management consultancy services · Project management consultancy services · Technical analysis or consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How THAMES WATER UTILITIES LIMITED buys Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131), 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: Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) →
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 bid14%
2–323%
4–629%
7+33%
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% / 42%
Within ±2%100% / 43%
Above estimate0% / 15%
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 7131Published estimate£40m
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 453 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid14%
2–323%
4–629%
7+33%
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
- 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
- 18 Sept 2026, 12:30 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Sept 2026, 12:30 BST
- Authority reference
2552- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-088653- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07755fFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
18 Sept 2026 → 1 Aug 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published40 days ago18 Sept 2026, 12:30 BST
- Market engagement18 days ago11 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST
Access to Market Engagement Documentation Due to the commercially sensitive nature of the information to be shared, interested organisations will be required to enter into a Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before participating in this market engagement exercise.
Suppliers wishing to participate should register their interest via Delta eSourcing and access the Tenderbox using the following code:
Tenderbox Access Code: 47W66BK2KD
Within the Tenderbox, suppliers will be able to download the NDA and associated instructions. A fully executed NDA must be submitted via the Tenderbox no later than 12:00 noon on 25 September 2026.
Only organisations that have submitted a fully executed NDA by the stated deadline will be provided with access to the detailed Market Briefing Pack and Market Sounding Questionnaire. A countersigned copy of the NDA will be issued alongside the Market Briefing Pack and Market Sounding Questionnaire.
Participating organisations will be invited to review the information provided and submit feedback as part of this Preliminary Market Engagement exercise. Feedback received will be used to inform the development of the requirement, procurement strategy, commercial approach and procurement documentation.
Participation in this market engagement exercise will not influence any future procurement process and does not constitute any commitment by Thames Water to commence a procurement or award a contract.
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at:
www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Readin… ↗ services./47W66BK2KD
To respond to this opportunity, please click here: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/47W66BK2KD ↗
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 275 days1 Aug 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Sept 2026, 12:30 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