Scope
Reference
2024 1232
Description
Anglian Water Services (AWS) WRMP24 has identified significant challenges for the East of England, primarily due to a forecasted reduction in available supply of potable water and an increase in the demand forecast. Without intervention, a daily shortfall of 593 megalitres (Ml) of water is estimated by 2050, which equates to approximately half of the current volume of water entering the network.
As a result, two desalination plants have been identified as part of the Adaptive Plan to address the shortfall in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Both desalination plants will abstract and desalinate seawater from the North Sea. Initial design assumptions are that the desalination plant will include pre-treatment, reverse osmosis, and remineralisation, before the treated water is blended and pumped into supply and the brine waste is discharged via a long outfall to sea.
Desalination is a new technology for Anglian Water, therefore we do not have sufficient experience within the business and expertise is limited within our usual supply chain.
This is a tender to procure up to two Desalination Technical Partners to support us in the development stages for both sites. The Primary Partner will be awarded the minimum scope of work (as defined in the Scope document) for both sites and any additional work over and above this is to be awarded at Anglian Waters discretion. As a result even though the tender notice value is £29m (ex VAT), the bidder is only guaranteed the minimum scope spend, estimated to be £4.7m.
We also note that the geopolitical landscape, along with regulations from the Environment Agency and other governing bodies, may evolve during the contract period, which may impact spend and / or the scope. This is an known unknown risk to this procurement exercise.
Commercial tool
Establishes a framework
Total value (estimated)
- £29,000,000 excluding VAT
- £34,800,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2030
- Possible extension to 31 October 2035
- 10 years
Description of possible extension:
The contract term will be up to 10 years, depending on the future need.
The initial term will be 5 years with the option, at Anglian Waters discretion, to extend up to another 5 years, totalling a 10 year framework.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 65122000 - Water desalination services
Contract locations
- UKC - North East (England)
- UKD - North West (England)
- UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber
- UKF - East Midlands (England)
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
- UKH - East of England
- UKI - London
- UKJ - South East (England)
- UKK - South West (England)
Framework
Maximum number of suppliers
Unlimited
Maximum percentage fee charged to suppliers
0%
Framework operation description
Please see the tender documentation for further information.
Award method when using the framework
Either with or without competition
Contracting authorities that may use the framework
Establishing party only
Participation
Particular suitability
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Submission
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
6 July 2025, 11:59pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Submissions must be electronic.
Please refer to the events on Scanmarket, and the documents within, for further guidance.
This tender process will include two stages - RFI & RFP. You must be shortlisted from RFI to RFP to continue participation in stage two.
https://esourcing.scanmarket.com/Events/PublicEvents/3004/57aa08f02740e2c172f509ae0fa4807a/all
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
15 October 2025
Award criteria
| Name | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Written Response | Quality | 70% |
| Pricing | Price | 30% |
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
The purpose of this tender is to appoint two partners (one primary and one secondary) with experience of the development and delivery of major desalination projects. We are looking for a Partner who can provide the necessary technical expertise for the development phase of our desalination programme.
The primary partner will lead on the design and engineering services of both projects (Norfolk and Lincolnshire) up until handover with the Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP).
The secondary partner may be called upon to provide a secondary view on critical and important design outputs, as well as being available to provide resilience.
A market engagement exercise was conducted (Dec 24 - Jan 25), however it was under the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 meaning we cannot link the previous notice within this UK4. As a result, we have included all market engagement information and updates as support documents to the RFI event.
Documents
Associated tender documents
https://esourcing.scanmarket.com/Events/PublicEvents/3004/57aa08f02740e2c172f509ae0fa4807a/all
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
All relevant and required documents will be attached to the RFI and RFP event on Scanmarket. Scanmarket is the e-sourcing system being used to run the tender events.
The tender will be opened with a draft version of the contract terms. A draft copy will be uploaded to the RFP event on Scanmarket and a final version will replace these at some point during the RFI process.
When the updated and final terms are uploaded, all bidders who have logged into the RFI event will be notified.
The events can be found on Anglian Waters public Scanmarket page ;
https://esourcing.scanmarket.com/Events/PublicEvents/3004/57aa08f02740e2c172f509ae0fa4807a/all
Contracting authority
ANGLIAN WATER SERVICES LIMITED
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PMZW-7779-DCNZ
Lancaster House Lancaster Way
Huntingdon
PE29 6XU
United Kingdom
Region: UKH12 - Cambridgeshire CC
Organisation type: Private utility