RFP QuestBeta
ClosedStage · tender

United Utilities Water Limited

Services-Framework-Lab Sample Couriers Service

Telecoms & PostCPV 64120000
Value£9.6m
Deadline12 Jun 2026
Published13 Feb 2026
RegionNationwide
Timeline
Published 13 Feb 2026ClosedCloses 12 Jun 2026
Who to contact
Sofia Gomes
Sofia.Gomes@uuplc.co.uk
+44 7901172777

The procurement contact named on the official notice.

How to submit
Open the submissions portal

The submission route named on the official notice.

Contract value in context
£9.6mtotal contract value
median £200k
this tender£0£10.4m

This is a large award for Postal & Telecommunications — above three-quarters of comparable contracts. Based on 2,074 valued Postal & Telecommunications tenders in our corpus.

When this comes round again

United Utilities Water Limited has published 198 notices across all categories, and 49% of its awards go to a supplier it has used before.

Which is the argument for getting on the list rather than winning this one. The incumbent is rarely the last winner — it is the roster. See the retention odds by category →


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The brief

United Utilities Laboratory Services require a courier service for the transportation of samples from sites across the Company to the central Laboratory at Lingley Mere (Warrington) on a daily basis.

It is a requirement of OFWAT (The Water Services Regulation Authority) that the Company constantly undertakes analysis of water/waste water samples from various sample points throughout the North-West Region.

Water Quality Officers, Network Owners, Wastewater Operatives, Trade Effluent Officers, Agricultural Advisors and Project Staff obtain the samples requiring analysis.

Samples are left at drop off points for collection by the dedicated courier in a refrigerated van.

Samples need to be transported under refrigerated conditions to ensure that they are maintained at a temperature of between 2 and 7 degrees centigrade.

It is a requirement to maintain evidence that this has been achieved to enable United Utilities to adhere to regulatory requirements with respect to the transportation of accredited samples under the Environment Agency's Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTs), Drinking Water Test Specifications (DWTS) and ISO 17025.

On collection, the courier takes the samples to a Sample Registration Centre (SRC) or directly to Lingley Mere Laboratories Sample Reception.

An additional dedicated courier service is then required to operate between the SRC's and the Laboratories at Lingley Mere, where required.

Consignment Notes or Delivery Notes detailing the sample load carried and all other required information to the Laboratory at Lingley Mere are part of the hand-over procedure at the SRCs and the Laboratory.

These are currently in paper form, the Company would like to move this to an electronic format, where reports should consist of (minimum requirement): • Sample bottle barcode number • crate barcode number • vehicle registration • collection date and time • collection location • time samples dropped off • location of sample drop off Route optimisation will also be a requirement of the tender, with bidders expected to demonstrate how routes will be optimised to ensure efficiency, reliability, and timely delivery of samples while maintaining required temperature controls.

Detailed dates and milestones will be share in the tender documentation.

Requirements

What the notice asks for

01

Samples need to be transported under refrigerated

Samples need to be transported under refrigerated conditions to ensure that they are maintained at a temperature of between 2 and 7 degrees centigrade.

02

It is a requirement to maintain evidence

It is a requirement to maintain evidence that this has been achieved to enable United Utilities to adhere to regulatory requirements with respect to the transportation of accredited samples under the Environment Agency's Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTs), Drinking Water Test Specifications (DWTS) and ISO 17025.

03

An additional dedicated courier service is then

An additional dedicated courier service is then required to operate between the SRC's and the Laboratories at Lingley Mere, where required.

04

These are currently in paper form,

These are currently in paper form, the Company would like to move this to an electronic format, where reports should consist of (minimum requirement):.

05

Location of sample drop off Route optimisation

location of sample drop off Route optimisation will also be a requirement of the tender, with bidders expected to demonstrate how routes will be optimised to ensure efficiency, reliability, and timely delivery of samples while maintaining required temperature controls.

Sentences from the notice that state an obligation, surfaced automatically and shown in the order they appear. Not an exhaustive list — always confirm against the tender documents.

The gates

What this notice demands of you

2 named, none in explicit obligation language. Each one is quoted from the notice.

It is a requirement to maintain evidence that this has been achieved to enable United Utilities to adhere to regulatory requirements with respect to the transportation of accredited samples under the Environment Agency's Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTs), Drinking Water Test Specifications (DWTS) and ISO 17025.
OfwatRegulator registrations
It is a requirement of OFWAT (The Water Services Regulation Authority) that the Company constantly undertakes analysis of water/waste water samples from various sample points throughout the North-West Region.

Matched against the notice text, so this is a floor — the tender pack will demand things the notice never mentions. “Says must” means the quoted sentence itself used obligation language; anything ambiguous is left as a mention.

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Source & provenance
OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06545f
Stage
tender · Open
Source
Find a Tender
Buyer ref
013630-2026
View the original notice on Find a Tender

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data © Crown copyright.

Market context

Who wins this kind of work

The suppliers and buyers around this opportunity — drawn from official award data. Drag to orbit; click a node to explore.

Top suppliers & buyers in Postal & Telecommunications

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