Electric Metering Services

This tender exhibits significant procedural flaws, primarily due to a critical pre-qualification deadline having already passed for an 'active' tender, severely compromising fairness and accessibility. The lack of transparent evaluation criteria further diminishes its quality.

Legal compliance is severely compromised. The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PSQ) deadline of 2026-01-09 has passed as of today's date (2026-01-18), rendering the 'active' status misleading and effectively closing the tender to new participants. The reservation of the right to 'refine the award criteria' is a major deviation from best practice and transparency requirements. Mandatory exclusion grounds are not explicitly mentioned, and procedure type codes are missing.

While the service description and technical requirements are generally clear, the complete absence of specified evaluation criteria, coupled with the explicit statement that Thames Water reserves the right to refine them, creates significant ambiguity regarding how bids will be assessed. Performance conditions are mentioned generally but lack specific detail.

Basic information like title, reference, organization, value, and duration are present. However, the tender is incomplete in several critical areas, including detailed evaluation criteria, mandatory exclusion grounds, and specific financial requirements beyond the estimated value. The status of tender documents is also unclear, with the 'Official PDF Version' marked as 'Required: No'. The PSQ deadline being in the past for an active tender also makes the tender incomplete for new bidders.

Fairness is severely compromised. The PSQ deadline having passed before today's date means the tender is effectively inaccessible to any new potential bidders, despite its 'active' status, creating an unequal playing field. The absence of transparent and fixed evaluation criteria, and the explicit reservation of the right to refine them, introduces significant subjectivity and potential for bias. The lack of e-submission capabilities further hinders equal access.

The tender's practicality is significantly hampered by the expired PSQ deadline, making it impossible for new interested parties to participate. The absence of electronic submission capabilities is a practical drawback in modern procurement. While the contract start date and duration are clear, the overall process is impractical for broad market engagement.

The most significant data inconsistency is the 'active' status of the tender juxtaposed with the fact that a critical pre-qualification deadline (PSQ submission) has already passed (2026-01-09 vs. today's date 2026-01-18). This creates a misleading representation of the tender's accessibility. Minor inconsistencies include an empty 'Liable Person' field and 'Code: N/A' for procedure types.

The tender explicitly mentions an 'Innovation Focus' and expects the partner to be 'proactive in contractual innovation,' which is a positive aspect. However, there is no explicit mention of green procurement criteria, environmental considerations, or social aspects, which are standard components of comprehensive sustainability in public procurement. It is also not EU funded.