The Bid Assessment Framework (BAF) is a strategic approach that facilitates a competitive bidding marketplace for water resources, demand management, leakage services, and bio resources.
The BAF establishes the foundation and protocol for soliciting, evaluating, and comparing third-party bids against internal solutions.
It leverages existing procedures and responsibilities, such as water resource planning requirements, procurement principles, and competition commitments, to uphold consistent and transparent practices throughout the tendering process.
The purpose of the regulatory BAF is to support the bidding market for water resources (encompassing new sources of water, demand management and leakage services) and bioresources.
The bidding market is where third parties submit bids to incumbent water companies (like Wessex Water) to provide solutions to meet future water needs and other outcomes.
Third parties can be independent entities or other incumbents from outside the area. Solutions can include new water resources (for example, reservoirs, boreholes, and abstraction licences), leakage reduction, and water efficiency measures, as well as new opportunities for market treatment and disposal of sludge, potentially creating synergies between companies and the wider market for co-digestion, treatment and disposal.
You can find out more or submit a bid via the Marketplace.