Scope
Description
FPA Consulting Limited (FPA) have been appointed By Associated British Ports Limited (the Authority) to provide advice and facilitate the procurement of Half Hourly Electricity on its behalf. FPA will not be a principal to any subsequent Contract and accepts no liability for the acts or omissions of the Authority with respect to the Contract.
The Authority wishes to appoint a suitably qualified supplier or consortium on a single Lot basis to support it with the Flexible Procurement and Supply of Electricity across the Authority's estate.
The Authority purchases approx. 135 GW of Half-Hourly (HH) electricity per annum across circa 115 settled meters via a flexible trading supply agreement. The current purchasing arrangement has been in place from June 2024 for supplies commencing 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027.
The Authority wishes to put in place new flexible HH electricity trading arrangement which will allow it to undertake HH electricity trading before the expiry of the current arrangements.
The Contract will cover the supply period from 1st April 2027 to 31st March 2030, with the option to extend the contract terms for a further 3 years (3+3 arrangement).
The Authority retains the flexibility to decide upon any extension term throughout the initial Contract term. Any extension period must be mutually agreed and will not be subject to automatic renewal.
All supply contracts under this agreement will terminate at the end of the agreed term and the supplier will not automatically renew supply arrangements without express written agreement from the Authority. This does not prevent the supplier Bidder from applying out of contract supply rates at the end of any agreed supply contract term.
The key aims of this procurement for the flexible Procurement and Supply of Electricity are to:-
• Provide the ability for the Authority to trade volumes of electricity from the Contract award date, in readiness for the start of the supply Contract
• Provide the ability for the Authority to 'sleeve in' pre-executed trades at the commencement of any resultant supply contract.
• Allow the Authority to procure 100% zero-carbon energy, backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin certification and/or 100% independent third party certified/accredited zero-carbon energy, for 100% of energy consumed by the Authority during the term of the supply contract.
Further information, including site details and consumption data are included within the ITN documentation.
Total value (estimated)
- £185,000,000 excluding VAT
- £222,000,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 2 February 2026 to 31 March 2030
- Possible extension to 31 March 2033
- 7 years, 1 month, 27 days
Description of possible extension:
No later than 12-months before the contract period end i.e. 31st March 2030, the successful Bidder is to provide a proposal for the potential 3-year extension period for the Authority's consideration. Following review of the proposal, the Authority reserves the right to either agree to the proposal or initiate a new procurement process for these requirements.
Main procurement category
Goods
CPV classifications
- 09300000 - Electricity, heating, solar and nuclear energy
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)
- UKL - Wales
- UKM - Scotland
Submission
Enquiry deadline
4 November 2025, 12:00pm
Submission type
Tenders
Tender submission deadline
14 November 2025, 2:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Bidder submissions, including all documents required in the ITN documentation should be uploaded to a SharePoint Folder entitled "Tender Response".
In addition, a confirmatory e mail should be sent to Tenders@fpaconsulting.co.uk advising that the Bidder's submission has been uploaded in accordance with the requirement of the ITN documentation.
Further details can be found within the ITN documentation.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
No
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
12 January 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | Please refer to the ITN documentation for Technical Assessment and Evaluation criteria. |
Quality | 70% |
| Price | Please refer to the ITN documentation for Price Assessment and Evaluation criteria. |
Price | 30% |
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
This Competitive Flexible procurement procedure is a combined Conditions of Participation (CoP) and Commercial Invitation to Negotiate (ITN), which is split into the following Gateways and Stages and is outlined below. Further details of the procurement process can be found within the tender documentation.
Tender Gateway 1: Initial Compliance Check
After the deadline for submission of tenders, the Authority will consider, in respect of each Bidder that submitted a tender, whether the Bidder or any related persons within its corporate group, associated persons relied on to meet the requirements of the tender, or proposed sub-contractors, are excluded or excludable Bidders and will consider whether to disregard the tender submitted in accordance with its obligations under the Act. If the Bidder is an excluded or excludable Bidder only by virtue of an associated person or proposed sub-supplier, the Authority will notify the Bidder of its intention to disregard its tender and provide the Bidder with reasonable opportunity to replace the associated person or sub-supplier.
The Authority will undertake a compliance check of the information submitted. If it is found that the Bidder has failed to complete all relevant questions or provide supporting documentation then they will not be taken any further in the procurement process outlined below.
Tender Gateway 2: Conditions of Participation
The CoP Questionnaire Bidder Response Document is divided into sections which have Pass/Fail criteria and weighted and scored criteria.
The Bidders CoP submission will be evaluated in accordance the criteria set out in the ITN documentation.
If the Bidders CoP submission meets the stated minimum criteria set out in the ITN documentation, then the Bidders ITN submission will be taken forward to the Tender Gateway 3 Assessment and Evaluation stage of the process, as described below.
If the Bidders CoP submission does not meet the stated minimum criteria set out in the ITN documentation, then the Bidder will not be taken forward to the Tender Gateway 3 Assessment and Evaluation stage of the process.
Tender Gateway 3: Initial Tender Submission Assessment
The Authority will conduct an assessment of all tenders in accordance with the ITN documentation to identify the Bidder which has submitted the most advantageous tender in accordance with the assessment methodology and award criteria set out in the ITN documentation.
The Authority may also disregard a tender:
a) from a Bidder that is not a United Kingdom based Bidder or a treaty state Bidder or that intends to sub-contract the performance of all or part of the Contract to a Bidder that is not a United Kingdom based Bidder or a treaty state Bidder; or
b) if the tender breaches a procedural requirement set out in the Tender Notice or associated tender documents; or
c) if the tender offers a price that the Authority considers to be abnormally low for the performance of the Contract. Where the Authority considers that a price offered by a Bidder in its tender is abnormally low, the Authority will notify the Bidder and give the Bidder reasonable opportunity to demonstrate that it will be able to perform the contract for the price offered. the Authority will only disregard the tender if the Bidder cannot satisfactorily demonstrate that it will be able to perform the Contract for the price offered.
Tender Gateway 4: Preferred Bidder Selection and Negotiation
Following the scoring of Tender responses the Authority will select a Preferred Bidder based on the highest combined evaluation scores. The Authority reserves the right to award based on the result of the initial tenders or negotiate further with the Preferred Bidder to completely meet the requirements for the Services.
Upon completion of Negotiations, the Authority will provide an assessment summary to all Bidders that submitted final tenders to:
a) inform them whether they have been successful in being awarded the Contract
b) provide an explanation of the assessment of the Bidder's tender against the relevant award criteria, in accordance with the requirements of the Act
c) where different to the Bidder concerned, provide information in respect of the most advantageous tender submitted, including details of the assessment of this tender against the relevant award criteria and the Bidder's name.
Following Issue of the assessment summaries to all Bidders, the Authority will publish a Contract Award Notice on the Central Digital Platform and commence the mandatory standstill period. Subject to completion of the mandatory standstill period, the Authority will enter into Contract with the Preferred Bidder.
To register your interest in this notice and receive the tender documents you should submit an expression of interest to tenders@fpaconsulting.co.uk and request a copy of the ITN documentation.
Upon receipt of the expression of interest, the Authority will check the OFGEM Published Licensed Supplier List for mains metered electricity. If the Bidder's company is within the listing then the ITN documentation will be issued.
If the Bidder's company is not within the listing, or a valid OFGEM supply license cannot be verified, then the ITN documentation will not be issued and the Bidder advised accordingly.
Contracting authority
ASSOCIATED BRITISH PORTS
- Companies House: ZC000195
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PNHG-3372-CRWZ
25 Bedford Street
London
WC2E 9ES
United Kingdom
Email: procurement@abports.co.uk
Region: UKI32 - Westminster
Organisation type: Private utility
Other organisation
These organisations are carrying out the procurement, or part of it, on behalf of the contracting authorities.
FPA Consulting Limited
Summary of their role in this procurement: Tender advice and administration.
- Companies House: 3259687
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PTXY-3351-TVYL
1 St. Andrews House
Derby
DE1 1UJ
United Kingdom
Email: tenders@fpaconsulting.co.uk
Website: http://www.fpaconsulting.co.uk
Region: UKF11 - Derby