Upstream Thinking: Water Catchment Management Framework

Organisation

SOUTH WEST WATER LIMITED

South West Water Limited is seeking (as a centralised purchasing body on behalf of itself and other subsidiaries within the Pennon Group from time to time) to enter into a framework with multiple suppliers for the supply and management of water catchment services to both regulated utilities and other subsidiary entities within the Pennon Group for a five year period from May 2025 to 31 March 2030 with the possibility to extend the framework contract for a further three years. Bidders should please note that it is anticipated that the management of the framework will be conducted for the Group by South West Water Limited, and this will also be expressly acknowledged and authorised by the Pennon Group contracting entities when entering into call-off contracts under the framework, including authorisation for South West Water Limited to make orders on behalf of the relevant contracting entity. It is then intended that the services will be implemented through call-offs with specific Pennon Group contracting entities. South West Water Limited is running this procurement using the Negotiated Procedure with prior call for competition under Regulation 47 of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016. Upstream Thinking (UST) is Pennon Groups ambitious and innovative Natural Capital-based approach to investment in resilience. Since 2006 this evolving Catchment Management programme, has focused on protecting the rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers of the region from pollution and detrimental environmental landscape impacts, together with supporting flora and fauna. The inherent uncertainty of deriving drinking water for treatment from surface waters, and from the lower reaches of large and variable river systems, is the principal risk that UST seeks to address. This work builds on the existing contracts / frameworks which were put in place for AMP7 for both Bristol Water and South West Water. The new framework seeks to combine these into one comprehensive framework which will allow for the whole of the business to utilise for catchment management partnership delivery including Upstream Thinking and Green First. It will also incorporate the new performance measures as outlined in WINEP requirements. Specifically for Upstream Thinking this includes expanding the programme into new drinking water catchments, to deliver against both WINEP outcomes and the new OFWAT Biodiversity performance commitment. The upstream Thinking programme also delivers against other AMP8 business plan outcomes including planting 300,000 trees, re-naturalising our waterways for wildlife, control invasive non-native species, and our 1,000 ponds initiative. The focus of the framework will be to engage local partnership delivery specialists who have developed significant knowledge of the catchments while creating widespread support and trust from land owners and managers. The partnership element is a key part of this framework and the ability to bring match funding, co benefits and other in-kind contributions and support to the shared delivery outcomes will be a key factor. For this delivery Farm advisers within the organisations act as honest brokers in the catchment and engage with farmers to provide advice, business planning, and grants for farm infrastructure and habitat restoration to bring about behaviour change and Natural Capital improvements. This increases the flow of Environmental Goods and Services (EGS) (e.g. clean raw water) from farms to deliver improved business performance in the following areas: • Pro-active management of Drinking Water Protected Areas (DrWPA) at risk and increased raw water usability due to reduced pollutant loads with sustained and elevated base-flows, • Drinking Water treatment works (DWTW) efficiency due to avoidance of shutdowns from pollution, taste, and odour failures, together with lower asset running costs, • Downstream environmental protection for wastewater treatment and networks, with improved functionality due to reduced catchment peak-flows with impacts on Combined Sewer Outlet (CSO) discharge frequency and volumes, • Long term business protection against future uncertainty (e.g. climate change and emerging catchment threats such as new chemicals which may enter the water environment), Statutory environmental protection and delivery of wider environmental responsibilities (e.g. the Environment Agency's Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP)). Where applicable, these delivery partners will need to demonstrate past ability to use SWW funds to access and deliver 3rd party funding streams to support the SWW investments in these catchments (noting this approach was not previously undertaken in Bristol Water catchments). This could include Defra funds and other sources This investment supports the stated customers' priorities of: • A clean, safe and reliable supply of drinking water, • Reliable wastewater service, • Resilience, • Protecting the Environment.

South West Water Limited is seeking (as a centralised purchasing body on behalf of itself and other subsidiaries within the Pennon Group from time to time) to enter into a framework with multiple suppliers for the supply and management of water catchment services to both regulated utilities and other subsidiary entities within the Pennon Group for a five year period from May 2025 to 31 March 2030 with the possibility to extend the framework contract for a further three years. Bidders should please note that it is anticipated that the management of the framework will be conducted for the Group by South West Water Limited, and this will also be expressly acknowledged and authorised by the Pennon Group contracting entities when entering into call-off contracts under the framework, including authorisation for South West Water Limited to make orders on behalf of the relevant contracting entity. It is then intended that the services will be implemented through call-offs with specific Pennon Group contracting entities. South West Water Limited is running this procurement using the Negotiated Procedure with prior call for competition under Regulation 47 of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016. Upstream Thinking (UST) is Pennon Groups ambitious and innovative Natural Capital-based approach to investment in resilience. Since 2006 this evolving Catchment Management programme, has focused on protecting the rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers of the region from pollution and detrimental environmental landscape impacts, together with supporting flora and fauna. The inherent uncertainty of deriving drinking water for treatment from surface waters, and from the lower reaches of large and variable river systems, is the principal risk that UST seeks to address. This work builds on the existing contracts / frameworks which were put in place for AMP7 for both Bristol Water and South West Water. The new framework seeks to combine these into one comprehensive framework which will allow for the whole of the business to utilise for catchment management partnership delivery including Upstream Thinking and Green First. It will also incorporate the new performance measures as outlined in WINEP requirements. Specifically for Upstream Thinking this includes expanding the programme into new drinking water catchments, to deliver against both WINEP outcomes and the new OFWAT Biodiversity performance commitment. The upstream Thinking programme also delivers against other AMP8 business plan outcomes including planting 300,000 trees, re-naturalising our waterways for wildlife, control invasive non-native species, and our 1,000 ponds initiative. The focus of the framework will be to engage local partnership delivery specialists who have developed significant knowledge of the catchments while creating widespread support and trust from land owners and managers. The partnership element is a key part of this framework and the ability to bring match funding, co benefits and other in-kind contributions and support to the shared delivery outcomes will be a key factor. For this delivery Farm advisers within the organisations act as honest brokers in the catchment and engage with farmers to provide advice, business planning, and grants for farm infrastructure and habitat restoration to bring about behaviour change and Natural Capital improvements. This increases the flow of Environmental Goods and Services (EGS) (e.g. clean raw water) from farms to deliver improved business performance in the following areas: • Pro-active management of Drinking Water Protected Areas (DrWPA) at risk and increased raw water usability due to reduced pollutant loads with sustained and elevated base-flows, • Drinking Water treatment works (DWTW) efficiency due to avoidance of shutdowns from pollution, taste, and odour failures, together with lower asset running costs, • Downstream environmental protection for wastewater treatment and networks, with improved functionality due to reduced catchment peak-flows with impacts on Combined Sewer Outlet (CSO) discharge frequency and volumes, • Long term business protection against future uncertainty (e.g. climate change and emerging catchment threats such as new chemicals which may enter the water environment), Statutory environmental protection and delivery of wider environmental responsibilities (e.g. the Environment Agency's Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP)). Where applicable, these delivery partners will need to demonstrate past ability to use SWW funds to access and deliver 3rd party funding streams to support the SWW investments in these catchments (noting this approach was not previously undertaken in Bristol Water catchments). This could include Defra funds and other sources This investment supports the stated customers' priorities of: • A clean, safe and reliable supply of drinking water, • Reliable wastewater service, • Resilience, • Protecting the Environment.

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Application Deadline

19 March 2025

Closed

Estimated Value

£10,000,000

WAC Reference

WAC-27090

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