Southern Water has issued a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice giving the supply chain an early heads up a forthcoming tender for a winter gritting contract worth an estimated £2.4 million (inc VAT).
Southern Water has issued a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice giving the supply chain an early heads up a forthcoming tender for a winter gritting contract worth an estimated £2.4 million (inc VAT).
Southern Water is seeking a supplier for winter gritting services across the whole of its region - Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and Isle of Wight. The supplier must be able to deliver a flexible service across operational sites whilst also having the ability to cover reactive requests for leaks in public areas.
The service is required to operate 7 days a week during the winter period, from October to April, and be temperature-triggered in response to pre-agreed thresholds (e.g. surface temperatures forecast below 0°C or as defined by Met Office data).
All vehicles used for the gritting must be roadworthy, clean, and regularly maintained, fully licensed and MOT certified. All drivers and personnel must also hold a valid driving licence (appropriate categories) and be trained in winter maintenance procedures.
Vehicles must not move between fresh water and wastewater sites without a full decontamination to avoid cross-contamination.
The service delivery must be supported by a comprehensive digital Platform accessible to Southern Water:
- Site-specific gritting maps and access details.
- Site and contact information.
- Live and historical job tracking with vehicle GPS.
- Job history and audit trail.
- Picture evidence of service delivery
- Automated time stamps for job start/finish.
- Communication logs for instruction and completion confirmation.
The successful supplier will be rquired to provide a planned, temperature-triggered gritting service for: access roads, car parks, footpaths, other designated areas as per site-specific requirements.
Other contract requirements include:
- Snow clearance when required.
- Monitor weather forecasts (via Met Office or equivalent) and respond in line with preagreed gritting criteria.
- Perform gritting during off-peak hours (typically overnight or early morning) to reduce disruption.
- Ensure areas are treated.
- Provide a flexible, on-demand gritting service based on daily instructions issued by the Southern Water .
- List of sites to be issued no earlier than 16:00 daily, requiring response that same evening/night.
- Provide precision hand gritting, particularly in high-risk areas (e.g. leak sites, uneven terrain, pedestrian walkways).
- Be capable of handling emergency and short notice gritting requests, including potential 24/7 availability during adverse weather events.
- Allow for site additions after initial list issue (e.g. newly reported leaks).
- Jobs to be fully documented via a communication portal, supplier to provided Gritting evidence, Leak location identification, photographic evidence, map marking or GPS location of affected area
Current estimated start and end dates for the contract are 3 October 2025 to 2 October 2029 with a possible extension option to 1 October 2033.
Organisations who are not yert registered on Southern Water's sourcing portal should go to
https://southernwater.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html,
select the "Login or register to participate" link and click the "Register Now" link on the home page, accept the terms and conditions and click "Next". After the correct business and user details have been entered and a username selected and saved suppliers will then shortly receive an email with a unique password.
Procedure for newly registered and existing suppliers is as follows:
- Respond to the PQQ/ITT
- Login to the portal with your username/password
- Click the PQQs open to all suppliers or ITTs open to all suppliers' link.
- Click on the relevant PQQ/ITT
Sign In
