NI Water is progressing the upcoming procurement of its £400 million water and wastewater network services contract – the water company recently held a supplier engagement event for the retender of the contract in the Civic Centre, Craigavon.
The major operational contract, to deliver improvement, repair and maintenance works across the water and wastewater network has an indicative value range of between £200 million and up to £400 million and the procurement for the new contract is anticipated to commence in early 2024.
The supplier engagement event covered definition of targets, goals and requirements for the new contract. Potential suppliers also had the opportunity to hear directly from the various functions and Senior Stakeholders within NI Water, regarding their strategies for the Price Control Periods; PC21 and PC27. (Business plans until 2027 and beyond.)
Des Nevin Director or Customer and Operations said:
“The supplier engagement sessions have been hugely beneficial. They have given us the opportunity to gain feedback from the industry and learn from best practice across the sector, which will assist us in developing our procurement strategy to deliver these essential services.
“We are committed to the highest standards of water and wastewater services and look forward to working with our future supplier delivery partners to deliver a sustainable, world-class service to our customers.”
Manus O’Kane, NI Water’s Senior Procurement Manager added:
“The supplier engagement sessions have provided the platform for NI Water to learn from the market about approaches and models used in other sectors and by other utilities on major network maintenance contracts. This will help us shape our procurement strategy for the new contract.
“The supplier engagement sessions also gave us an opportunity to advise the market on policy and other changes within the procurement landscape such as social value, climate change and human rights, which NI Water place great significance on.
“We would like to thank all the suppliers who participated in these engagement sessions for both their time and valuable input to the process, which will be essential in helping shape how we deliver these services in the future.”
NI Water launched the early market engagement for the £400 million water and wastewater network maintenance services framework in May 2023 with the issue of a Periodic Indicative Notice signalling its intention to procure a contract for its network maintenance programme with capacity to deliver improvement, repair and maintenance works across their water and wastewater network.
The framework will cover both the PC21 and PC27 Price Control periods which run for 2021-2027 and 2027-2032 respectively.
NI Water currently has a contract in place for these services until 2025 – procurement for the new contract is expected to commence in early 2024.
The procurement process also includes the issue of a Request for Information (RFI) market enquiry to engage with suppliers who either currently deliver water and sewer network services or who are interested in delivering these services in the future.
The aim of the RFI and supplier engagement sessions will be to assess the interest, capacity and capability of the market in providing this type of service.
NI Water said it is also interested in receiving feedback and developing its understanding from the market on the different experiences, approaches and models used in other sectors and utilities for network maintenance services.
Estimated date of publication of the formal contract notice for the framework is 26 January 2024.
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