Scope
Description
NGN is seeking to appoint one or more experienced consultants to deliver key work packages for the East Coast Hydrogen (ECH) Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) project. This project forms a critical part of NGN's strategy to enable the transition to a low-carbon energy system, supporting the UK's net zero targets by 2050.
The ECH initiative aims to repurpose and expand existing gas infrastructure to transport hydrogen across the region, creating a reliable and scalable hydrogen network to facilitate hard-to-electrify industrial processes.
Total value (estimated)
- £5,000,000 excluding VAT
- £6,000,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2027
- Possible extension to 31 May 2028
- 2 years
Description of possible extension:
1 year extension provision
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 65210000 - Gas distribution
- 71311000 - Civil engineering consultancy services
- 71313400 - Environmental impact assessment for construction
- 71313440 - Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) services for construction
- 71318000 - Advisory and consultative engineering services
- 71322200 - Pipeline-design services
- 90712000 - Environmental planning
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)
Lot 1. LOT 1 - Engineering Design
Description
The purpose of this work is to deliver front-end engineering design for the ECH project. This package of works will expand and develop the Pre-FEED engineering to develop the technical requirements and preliminary designs to define the scope, cost and schedule of the project before committing to full execution. The purpose of this phase of the project is to establish a clear project scope, develop the design documentation to enable accurate cost estimate, identify the risks and constraints and prepare the basis for procurement and construction planning.
It is anticipated that the required design works will be undertaken to varying levels of detail, dependant on the certainty of the network section, ranging from FEED level design based on location specific assets to utilisation of standard design information for less certain route corridors. The network extent is yet to be defined however it is anticipated it will be in the magnitude of the Pre-FEED. The extent of network design will be dictated in the Request for Proposal stage.
Lot value (estimated)
- £2,500,000 excluding VAT
- £3,000,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 2. LOT 2 - Planning, Environmental & Consents
Description
Pre-FEED studies have identified the potential for 1-2 DCOs and several TCPA applications to varying maturity, noting that a number of those may benefit from Permitted Development Rights. As such the below scope of works is set out for standard requirements for a DCO and TCPA application in isolation. More detail will be provided at RFP stage.
Overall project management will be undertaken by NGN; however, the PEC Consultant will be expected to include project management processes, document control, interface management, risk management and technical assurance processes.
Lot value (estimated)
- £2,500,000 excluding VAT
- £3,000,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Participation
Particular suitability
Lot 1. LOT 1 - Engineering Design
Lot 2. LOT 2 - Planning, Environmental & Consents
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
5 January 2026, 5:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
5 January 2026, 5:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
The aim of this Tender Notice is to:
* Ensure we provide bidders with adequate information to determine if they wish to proceed with this tender event.
* Provide NGN with a more detailed understanding of the interest within the market.
The Tender Notice process is the first stage of multistage procurement process.
All interested suppliers must follow the below steps in order to proceed with the conditions of participation and PQQ stages of this procurement event:
Sign up or Sign in to NGNs Tendering Portal - Market Dojo. Follow this link to do so: https://secure.marketdojo.com/signup
When you have logged in to your dashboard, you'll need to click the 'Show all or enter invite code' button under the Event Invitations section
You'll need to enter this code: 7857B28D93
It will then notify NGN to approve you onto the tender event. Once approved you will be given access to the event, where you'll be taken to the Conditions of Participation stage, this stage is a pass/fail and will be locked until after the PQQ submission deadline. Any supplier who fails this stage will automatically be withdrawn from the process and will not gain access to the PQQ. All suppliers who pass this stage will be automatically taken to the PQQ where they will be given a deadline and detail to complete.
Once the PQQ has been evaluated by NGNs internal evaluation team all those who meet the criteria will be sent to the RFP stage where NGN will assess against award criteria.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
18 May 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| Highest scoring Bidder appointed to each LOT | Quality |
Weighting description
* Conditions of Participation - Pass/Fail Mandatory questions
Successful Bidders move to PQQ
* PQQ - 2-stage process -
1st stage - Bidders must score more than 60% in the weighted questions to progress into the second stage of the PQQ.
2nd stage - Bidders which score 70% or above in each Lot will progress through to the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage of the tender event. A maximum of 12 bidders in each Lot will progress through to RFP which will be decided by a ranking of the top highest...
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Utilities
Competitive flexible procedure description
This procurement will follow the following process:
- Tender notice issued (this notice) for at least 30 days
- Interested suppliers to contact NGN and be invited
to Conditions of Participation via Market Dojo
(Pass/Fail)
- Suppliers who Pass the Conditions of Participation
will be invited to PQQ
- PQQ end date 12th January 2026
- PQQ responses evaluated
Suppliers who score over 60% at Stage 1 of the PQQ will progress to Stage 2 of the PQQ (Project Specific questions). Bidders who achieve a 70% or more score in this section will be invited to
tender (RFP)
- RFP live for at least 25 days
- RFP responses will be assessed in two stages. The first stage will assess technical competence and resources where a threshold score will need to be achieved to progress into Stage 2. The second stage will assess commercials. The overall score will be calculated by adding the scores in both Stages with the highest score being successful.
- Best and Final Offer or supplementary stages requested where applicable (all these will be notified of before tender submission deadline)
- Final evaluations completed
- Suppliers notified of the outcome
Full details are made available in the tender scope.
If supplementary stages are required throughout the process, or stages noted in the strategy defined above are no longer required, it is at NGN's discretion to include or remove stages.
It is at the discretion of NGN to change the weightings/criteria or add additional sub criteria/weightings to the PQQ or RFP if there is a need to do so before the submission deadline of the
relevant stage.
Any changes to the evaluation criteria will be communicated
to all Bidders.
Documents
Associated tender documents
ECH FEED Design & PEC Work Packages - PQQ (v1.1) - Scope of Requirements.pdf
Tender Notice - Accessing the Invite on Market Dojo - Guidance (3).pdf
Contracting authority
NORTHERN GAS NETWORKS LIMITED
- Companies House: 05167070
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PRNB-9357-PVLR
1100 Century Way
Colton Leeds
LS15 8TU
United Kingdom
Contact name: Donna Northern / Harriet Wilkes
Region: UKE42 - Leeds
Organisation type: Private utility