Scope
Reference
Prj_7195
Description
The Andover Link Main (ALM) scheme is being delivered by Southern Water Services (SWS) under the Major Projects Directorate. The ALM project is part of the WRMP programme and is associated with SWS's agreement with the EA under Section 20 of the Water Resources Act 1991 put in place following Public Inquiry to reduce our abstraction licenses for public water supply. Its purpose is to provide environmental protection for the rivers Test and Itchen. The WRMP Programme aims to create greater resilience to water shortages, especially during dry weather and droughts. Existing abstraction licences for the River Test and River Itchen have been substantially reduced through changes required by the Environment Agency to protect the rivers, both designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and the River Itchen as Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Additional licence changes will bring further reductions. These rivers are key examples of rare chalk stream habitat which support a wide variety of species. The Proposed Scheme will support environmental improvement by increasing the protection of these rivers while addressing the need for secure water supply.
The ALM scheme involves approximately 25km of below-ground pipeline connecting critical infrastructure between Winchester and Andover, alongside upgrades to existing and new booster stations. It aims to deliver a bi-directional transfer capacity of 15Ml/d by March 2030, ensuring both strategic drought resilience and operational reliability for the isolated Andover Water Resource Zone (WRZ).
SWS delivery strategy is to appoint a single Principal Contractor to design and build Andover Link Main, delivery to inclue detailed design and construction package with enabling work to be completed prior to construction. This will also include support to discharge planning conditions and submission of certain environmental consent and permits. The Principal Contractor will act as a Tier 1 provider and sub-contract specialist elements. Southern Water have developed the scheme proposal to early outline design and are planning to complete this phase of work to enable the design to be realkeased with the ITT, post participation stage. comprising a detailed design and construction package, with enabling work to be completed prior to construction. This will also include support to discharge planning conditions and submission of certain environmental consent and permits.
Total value (estimated)
- £70,000,000 excluding VAT
- £84,000,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 30 June 2026 to 1 March 2030
- 3 years, 8 months, 2 days
Main procurement category
Works
CPV classifications
- 45232150 - Works related to water-distribution pipelines
Contract locations
- UK - United Kingdom
Participation
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
Detailed in the Procurment Documents available in our Jaggaer portal
Technical ability conditions of participation
Detailed in the Procurment Documents available in our Jaggaer portal
Submission
Enquiry deadline
10 October 2025, 5:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
27 October 2025, 4:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
https://southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk/
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted electronically via
https://southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to the above-mentioned address
If you are interested in bidding for this tender, please be aware that you will need to have registered on the central digital platform before you will be able to bid. This will require you to complete some information and then you will be provided with a unique identifier. For more information on how to register, please follow the below link:
how to register on the CDP
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Suppliers to be invited to tender
6 to 8 suppliers
Selection criteria:
Tenderers invited to tender, who submit qualifying proposals before the closing time, will be checked for compliance and any non-compliant tenders may be rejected without further evaluation.
Tenderers' responses to the PQQ will be assessed in the order as outlined in the ITT and Jaggaer, with those sections marked as Pass/Fail where the Tenderer will either meet or fail to meet the minimum criteria. All prospective Tenderers are required to pass each question within the SWS PQQ response forms.
The PQQ response forms will be evaluated in the following order:
Tenderers must meet the minimum criteria set out in questions . Tenderers who pass the criteria will then be evaluated on the questions in section 2 where the top scoring Tenderers above will be invited to tender. Any Tenderer who fails to meet the minimum criteria will be excluded from the process, and at the discretion of SWS, the next highest ranked Tenderer will be chosen to replace the excluded Tenderer, and so on.
Award decision date (estimated)
29 May 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | Sub sections detailed in the procurement documents, final criteria to be released with the ITT |
Quality | 50% |
| Commercial | Price activity schedule, final criteria to be released with the ITT |
Price | 50% |
Other information
Payment terms
Utilties contract 60 day payment terms
Description of risks to contract performance
Risk allocation based upon Assumptions, Qualifications & Exclusions. This may include liabilties, collatoral warratny, retention, PCGs.
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
Participation Stage and shorlisting to ITT
ITT stage 1 to include Interim assesment and shortlisting to ITT stage 2
ITT stage 2 Final Tenders (BAFO) and negotiations
Preferred Supplier Stage
Documents
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
SWS will be using the Competitive Flexible Procedure with supplementary processes as outlined in the procurement documents reducing the bids throughout the stages of the procurement.
All tender documents are available on our e-sourcing portal https://southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk/ which is provided by Jaggaer. The tender opportunity is separated into different response envelopes for the
pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ), and following on from this, if a candidate is invited to submit a Tender, the technical and commercial evaluation criteria (the response envelopes used may vary dependant on contract being procured and the procurement procedure being used). Each response envelope will contain supporting documents and information relating to the project, specification, requirements and contract as well as questions for you to answer within our e-sourcing portal, in order for us to evaluate your response.
Full information is provided within the IITT document within the sourcing portal.
Our Professional Services partner is currently working on producing an outline design for the project please note that these documents will be supplied with the ITT and not the PQQ.
Full ITT questions and the activity schedule for pricing will be provided within the ITT stage to shortlisted bidders.
Contracting authority
Southern Water Services Limited
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PBJQ-2231-ZRPG
Southern Water, Southern House
Worthing
Bn13 3NX
United Kingdom
Contact name: Kirsty Lodge
Email: procurement.governance@southernwater.co.uk
Website: http://www.southernwater.co.uk
Region: UKJ27 - West Sussex (South West)
Organisation type: Private utility