Anglian Water Services is procuring a framework for planning, consenting and associated advisory support across its current and future major infrastructure programmes. The scope is specialist and multidisciplinary, covering Development Consent Order work, planning strategy, land, consultation, environmental advice and post-consent support.
The notice estimates the framework at £58.8 million including VAT. It is therefore more relevant to infrastructure planning, consenting, environmental, land and stakeholder consultancies than to management consultancies in general. If you need help testing your lot fit or preparing for the multi-stage process, contact Thornton & Lowe.
Scope of the requirement
Anglian Water lists eight broad activity areas:
- Strategic consenting advice, including DCO strategy and planning policy
- Consenting leadership and management
- DCO application and examination management
- Specialist advisory services, including transport and coastal/marine consenting
- Stakeholder and consultation strategy and delivery
- Land and property support, including access, referencing and compulsory purchase advice
- Environmental services and specialist assessment advice
- Post-consent support, compliance monitoring and variation management
The tender documents use both lots and sub-lots, with sub-lotting under parts of the framework. Suppliers should work from the published procurement pack rather than assuming that each activity above is a standalone lot.
A multi-stage competitive process
The procurement uses the competitive flexible procedure. Anglian Water describes an initial pre-qualification stage, followed by an invitation to tender, bidder interviews where applicable and a best and final offer stage before award. Compliance questionnaires also cover areas such as ethics, modern slavery, anti-bribery, sanctions, insurance, GDPR and, for relevant lots, cyber security.
This makes submission control important. Our guide to structuring tender answers is useful when building evidence around complex technical questions, but the starting point here should be a detailed compliance matrix covering every stage and sub-lot requirement.
Call-offs and framework term
The Find a Tender notice records a 0% supplier fee and states that call-offs may be awarded with or without competition. Anglian Water is the establishing party identified to use the framework.
The published dates run from 25 February 2027 to 31 January 2031 with extension provisions. The notice states that lots 1 to 4 can have a maximum framework duration of eight years, while lot 5 can have a maximum duration of ten years. Suppliers should therefore check the lot-specific term rather than relying on one headline duration.
Key procurement dates
- Estimated value: £58.8 million including VAT
- Enquiry deadline: 19 August 2026 at 11:00pm
- Deadline for requests to participate: 7 September 2026 at 11:00pm
- Estimated award decision: 12 February 2027
Review the Anglian Water planning and consents Find a Tender notice alongside the detailed procurement documents.
Bid support for infrastructure consultancies
Thornton & Lowe can support the PQQ, technical response planning, evidence development, ESG narrative and tender management through the later stages. Talk to our bid team if this framework matches your specialist services.
