Scope
Reference
CM3224
Description
Yorkshire Water has made significant investments in its cloud data platform and has established an internal data science team. The organisation is now moving into a new phase of strategic maturity, aiming to apply AI in ways that deliver measurable value across the business.
AI is recognised at the executive level as a priority capability to support efficiency, resilience, and improved customer service. YW operates in a heavily regulated environment, and any use of AI must align with regulatory requirements around transparency, ethics, security, and operational reliability.
There are currently two priority domains for AI (although the scope of the framework will be for any AI/ML services required at Yorkshire Water):
1. Central Control Operations
• Yorkshire Water operates a real-time control room that monitors extensive telemetry across clean and wastewater networks.
• Operators are overwhelmed by alarms, many of which are false positives due to manually-set thresholds (e.g. "trigger at 80% tank level" without data context).
• Decision-making often relies on decades of tacit knowledge, e.g. knowing which alarms to ignore or act on.
• There is a strong opportunity to apply AI in:
o Alarm triaging and rationalisation
o Digital twins for simulation and scenario testing
o Predictive maintenance and network optimisation
o Performance is heavily regulated; service outages or pollution events result in significant financial penalties - hence the need for trusted, explainable automation.
2. Customer Service Operations
• Yorkshire Water serves around 5 million customers, handling thousands of customer queries and calls, often with high manual effort.
• Call centre volumes spike due to changes like pricing or hosepipe bans, and many interactions (e.g. moving house) are highly repetitive and ripe for automation.
• Digital self-service is limited; the website is dated and lacks tools like live chat.
• There is strong interest in deploying voice bots, LLM-powered agents, and NLP models to:
o Automate simple tasks
o Improve customer response time
o Prioritise vulnerable customers (while navigating GDPR/sentiment rules)
To accelerate delivery and unlock value across the organisation, YW is establishing a framework of specialist AI service providers. The focus is on working with partners who can bring genuine AI expertise and work collaboratively with internal teams to deliver real, operationally grounded solutions.
YW is seeking to develop trusted partnerships with AI specialists who can support the delivery of practical, business-focused solutions. There is a strong emphasis on collaboration, with suppliers expected to work closely with internal teams and co-develop solutions in an agile, transparent way. The organisation aims to upskill internal staff as part of any delivery, ensuring that solutions can be owned, maintained, and adapted in-house over time. Suppliers must be able to work entirely within Yorkshire Water's environment, including existing cloud infrastructure (e.g. Azure), CRM (Dynamics), and other systems. No data is permitted to leave YW's infrastructure.
The framework will seek suppliers with a range of AI-related expertise, including:
• AI consultancy and use case advisory
• Design, integration and implementation of AI tools and systems
• Data science and platform engineering
• Responsible AI and compliance support
• Upskilling and capability-building for internal teams
Suppliers must be able to work within Yorkshire Water's existing infrastructure and data environment, and deliver in a collaborative, agile manner.
Commercial tool
Establishes an open framework
Total value (estimated)
- £32,000,000 excluding VAT
- £38,400,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 December 2025 to 1 December 2030
- Possible extension to 1 December 2033
- 8 years, 1 day
Description of possible extension:
Extensions on a 1-year basis up to a maximum of 3-years, at the discretion of Yorkshire Water
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 72200000 - Software programming and consultancy services
- 72300000 - Data 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
Open framework scheme end date (estimated)
1 December 2033
Maximum number of suppliers
Unlimited
Maximum percentage fee charged to suppliers
0%
Framework operation description
The framework will be awarded based on a commercial and capability evaluation.
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
Enquiry deadline
27 August 2025, 5:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
3 September 2025, 5:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
For access to the Ariba event and full information, including the Conditions of Participation and the ITT, please reach out to Matt Bamforth at matt.bamforth@yorkshirewater.co.uk by the specified deadline of this notice, using the below email subject line .
Email subject line: CM3224 AI Services Framework
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
25 November 2025
Award criteria
| Name | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | Quality | 65% |
| Commercial | Price | 35% |
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
This will be a multiple round process.
The Conditions of Participation phase will select the top 10 highest scoring suppliers who will then be invited to participate in at least one further tender round.
Documents
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
For access to the Ariba event and full information, including the Conditions of Participation and the ITT, please reach out to Matt Bamforth at matt.bamforth@yorkshirewater.co.uk by the specified deadline of this notice, using the below email subject line .
Email subject line: CM3224 AI Services Framework
Contracting authority
YORKSHIRE WATER SERVICES LIMITED
- Companies House: 02366682
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PXGT-3622-WXBQ
Western House
Bradford
BD6 2SZ
United Kingdom
Contact name: Matt Bamforth
Email: matt.bamforth@yorkshirewater.co.uk
Website: https://www.yorkshirewater.com/
Region: UKE41 - Bradford
Organisation type: Private utility