Ofwat Innovation Fund delivery partner 2025-30

Tender description

We are looking to appoint delivery partners to support Ofwat in delivering the Ofwat Innovation Fund and aspects of the Water Efficiency Fund in AMP 8 (the asset management planning period which runs from April 2025-March 2030). This is a continuation of the existing Innovation Fund which was established in 2020 and the introduction of a new Water Efficiency Fund (WEF) of which this Invitation to Tender is concerned with only two aspects: the Water Efficiency Lab (WEL) – an annual competition similar to the Innovation Fund but focused solely on water efficiency, and the evaluation of the Water Efficiency Campaign (WEC), which is the other part of the two components that make up the WEF. We are looking for delivery partner support in three distinct but linked areas: Lot 1: Core Innovation Fund and WEL delivery Lot 2: Implementation programme Lot 3: Evaluation Lot 1: Lot 1: Core Innovation Fund and WEL delivery Lot 1: Core Innovation Fund and WEL delivery Lot 1 is broken down into the following services (detailed descriptions follow): 1. Water Breakthrough Challenge rounds 6-7 2. Water Discovery Challenge round 2 3. Water Efficiency Lab rounds 1-2 4. Collaborative Challenge programme 5. Monitoring of live projects and project closedown 6. Programme governance 7. Marketing and communications 8. Data collection to inform AMP 8 evaluation The overall budget range for the initial two-year contract for Lot 1: Core Innovation Fund and WEL delivery is 4,400,000-5,800,000 The overall budget for 3-5 of the period will be determined towards the end of year 2 is 6,500,000-8,700,000 Lot 2: Lot 2: Implementation programme The Innovation Fund aims to support the adoption and roll-out of innovative products, services and concepts. We expect most water companies will see the benefits of adopting successful innovations with no further support from Ofwat. However, throughout our engagement with companies in 2023/24 we have understood that it can take many years for companies to adopt an innovation and there have been suggestions that part of the fund should be targeted to help speed up implementation of new products, services and concepts. The Supplier and Ofwat will work closely together with the sector to determine what an effective implementation programme could look like. The programme will focus on accelerating the adoption and scaling of innovations awarded funding through the Ofwat Innovation Fund but also to support innovation implementation more generally across the sector. Co-design and delivery of new programme to support the acceleration of adoption and scaling of innovations across sector. Timetable to be agreed with the Supplier in line with the capacity of the sector to engage in design of the programme, but work expected to start in 2025. The overall budget range for the initial two-year contract for Lot 2: Implementation programme is 500,000-800,000 The possible budget in years 3-5 of extension period for Lot 2: Implementation programme is 800,000-1,100,000 Lot 3: Lot 3: Evaluation Lot 3 is broken down into the following services 1. AMP 7 Evaluation: Delivery of an impact and Value for Money (VfM) evaluation programme before the end of 2027 2. Delivery and coordination of AMP 8 evaluation activity. The overall budget range for the initial two-year contract for Lot 3: Evaluation is 600,000-900,000 The overall value in years 3-5 of the period will be determined towards the end of year 2 and could be in the range of 800,000-1,100,000