Northumbrian Water Ltd’s vision is "to be the most digital water company in the world", and digital technology is a key enabler in delivering safe, resilient and efficient water services. As part of this, NWL must meet a wide range of regulatory (including Ofwat, Defra, DWI, EA and UKAS), statutory, shareholder and customer requirements.

Effective monitoring, analysis and management of the clean water network is critical to ensuring continuity of supply, managing leakage, maintaining performance and meeting regulatory reporting obligations.The procurement is seeking a Water Network Management System that supports these objectives by providing robust, integrated and data-driven capabilities to manage network performance, risks and events, and to reduce the likelihood of service interruptions to customers.

The solution will be used across the business by operational, analytical and engineering users to support the monitoring, analysis and management of the clean water network. This includes users who are office-based, field- based or working remotely.

NWL says the system will play a critical role in supporting regulatory reporting, operational decision-making, leakage management and network performance in line with statutory, regulatory and Ofwat requirements.

Northumbrian Water’s current Water Network Management System is a mature and highly integrated solution within NWL's IT ecosystem and supports a wide range of functions, including the integration of telemetry data,GIS data, customer and billing information, work management data and smart meter data. It is used to:

The new solution is required to deliver functional and technical equivalence with the current system as a minimum, while also supporting improved usability, automation, scalability and long-term sustainability.

Key objectives include:

Key desirable features of the solution include:

NWL intends to appoint a supplier capable of delivering, implementing and supporting the solution in line with business needs, with implementation and transition activities planned ahead of the April 2027 contract start date. Certain capabilities may be phased or introduced over time, subject to business priorities and regulatory drivers.

Proposed initial contract term will be 5 years. Current estimated start and end contract dates are 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032 and the estimated award decision date is currently 1st September 2026

The procurement process will be conduced electronically - all documents and communication will be managed viathe Northumbrian Water e-Sourcing Spend Management portal (https://s1.ariba.com).

Interested suppliers are asked to send expressions of interest to the e-mail address 

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before the deadline date of the 4th of June 2026 at 12:00pm.

Applicants must provide the following information:

Deadline for return of the completed tenders (Conditions of Participation or COP) is 12 noon on 11th June 2026. The document includes a COP questionnaire which all suppliers are required to complete and return in accordance with the procurement timetable and instructions within the document.

Once an expression of interest has been received, applicants will be given access to the Ariba portal within 48 hours from request. Responses to any Conditions of Participation will be assessed in accordance with the selection process - the assessment of the responses will identify the top seven suppliers to be invited to participate in Stage 2.

Suppliers will be notified in writing of whether or not they have been successfully shortlisted to participate in Stage 2. Suppliers not invited to stage 2 will be provided with a written explanation of the reasons why they have not been shortlisted to participate in Stage 2.

At Stage 2 suppliers will be invited to submit initial tenders which all suppliers are required to complete. Following the deadline for submission of initial tenders, NWL will assess initial tenders.

The assessment process will identify which suppliers are to be selected to participate in the negotiation/dialogue stage as set out in Stage 3. Again, once the assessment of initial tenders has concluded, suppliers will be notified in writing whether they have successfully been invited to Stage 3. Any suppliers not invited to participate in Stage 3 will be provided with reasons in writing to explain why they have not been successful.

Stage 3 will commence with the notification inviting suppliers that have successfully passed Stage 2 to attend a Supplier Presentation (virtually, via MS Teams).

Stage 4 will commence with the issuing of a letter inviting suppliers that have been successfully shortlisted at Stage 3 to submit their Best and Final Offers. Stage 4 will end with NWL entering into preferred supplier stage with the preferred supplier. Stage 5 will be used to finalise the draft contract terms and conditions and will end with NWL entering into the contract with the preferred supplier

Click here to access the associated tender document NW3110 - Water Network Management Scope.