---
title: "(VEAT) Procurement of Support, Maintenance, and Continued Development to the Risk Attribution and Field Based Tool + (RAFT+)"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA NETWORK ETENDERING PORTAL)"
published: "2025-02-05"
---

# (VEAT) Procurement of Support, Maintenance, and Continued Development to the Risk Attribution and Field Based Tool + (RAFT+)

Buyer: DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA NETWORK ETENDERING PORTAL)  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5

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## Summary

The Environment Agency, under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), has completed the procurement process titled "Procurement of Support, Maintenance, and Continued Development to the Risk Attribution and Field Based Tool + (RAFT+)". This procurement falls within the IT services industry category, specifically covering consulting, software development, Internet, and support services. The procurement method used was a limited, negotiated procedure without prior publication. The contract, worth up to £484,840 for a two-year period with a one-year optional extension, was awarded to HR Wallingford Ltd on February 5, 2025. The procurement stage is now complete, and the location of the service delivery is within the UK. Key dates included the closing date for the VEAT notice on February 17, 2024.

This tender presents substantial opportunities for HR Wallingford Ltd to enhance their business growth through a high-value contract addressing a critical need within the Environment Agency’s operations. The single tender action was justified due to HR Wallingford's exclusive ownership of crucial intellectual property rights integral to the RAFT+ tool, making it uniquely capable of delivering the required services. Businesses with capabilities in bespoke IT service provision, particularly those with proprietary solutions, may find similar single tender opportunities beneficial. The tender underscores the importance of developing specialised, IP-protected tools which can give companies a competitive edge in securing high-value contracts through negotiated procurement processes.

## Notice

The Environment Agency are submitting this Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency (VEAT) Notice with a view to completing a Single Tender Award. Please note that this is not a tender opportunity, and that the contracting authority intends to award a Single Tender Action to HR Wallingford Limited.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Single Tender Action with HR Wallingford due to the justification under the Public Contracting Regulations 2015 for this Single Tender Action is against regulation 32 (2) (b) of the PCR 2015 for use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication where (ii) competition is absent for technical reasons, and also (iii) where exclusive rights, including IP rights, meaning that services can only be supplied by one economic operator. Additional information: The Risk Attribution and Field Based Tool + (RAFT+) is a bespoke web application tool which allows the Environment Agency (EA) to assess the risk of failure associated with vital EA flood risk assets. It has been built and developed in a partnership with HR Wallingford who own crucial elements of the intellectual property within and underpinning the tool. With their bespoke tool and the ownership of the associated IP, the Environment Agency has concluded that HR Wallingford is the only supplier who can deliver the required technical solution for the moment.

Options: One Year Optional Extension (subject to approval)

### Procurement Information

The justification under the Public Contracting Regulations 2015 for this Single Tender Action is against regulation 32 (2) (b) of the PCR 2015 for use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication where (ii) competition is absent for technical reasons, and also (iii) where exclusive rights, including IP rights, meaning that services can only be supplied by one economic operator - this is for the following reasons:
* HR Wallingford have developed the RAFT+ tool with the EA to meet all of the requirements of the EA and the need to analyse fragility curves. No other equivalent tool is available, either immediately or in a form that could be readily adapted along with IP Rights to elements of the tool that the EA is unable to purchase at this moment.
* Due to the ownership of elements of the RAFT+ tool (and the resultant IP Rights), no other supplier could be onboarded and use the tool, supporting this and developing it for the EA. The tool contains an element known as HR Reliable; this is a key aspect of the tool that is owned by HR Wallingford and is not available for third parties. Without this element, the tool would not be effective and would not meet the objectives of the EA. This would therefore result in a new system needing to be built, supported and maintained from another Supplier; this goes against value for money principles (as the EA would be paying twice for two systems), but also would create an operational risk as no system would be in place for a period of time (likely to be a minimum of six months). As Flood Coast and Risk Management is one of the Government's key area of focus and a DEFRA mission, This creates an unacceptable operational risk to the EA, if flooding were to effect areas that this tool could have been used to protect. 
* The EA will look to analyse the future market and the need for this requirement going forward past the proposed contract term, to understand whether this requirement should be tendered on the open market for future implementation. 
* The tool is more than simply the front-end element of RAFT+; the integration with HR Reliable, which is proprietary to HR Wallingford [and not available for licensing to third parties], is crucial to the successful operation of this tool. An alternative supplier would need to be able to deliver both an equivalent to the RAFT+ front-end of the tool and the underpinning software.

The whole life cost for the proposed contract is a maximum of PS484,840 for a two year period with a one year optional year.

If any provider has concerns with the Authority's intentions outlined within the published documentation, please raise this to the DEFRA point of contact within ten days of the date of this notice.
The closing date for this VEAT notice is 0900hrs on the 17th February 2024.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003855-2025 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Negotiated without publication of a contract notice |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 5 Feb 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 5 Feb 2025 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £484,840 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA NETWORK ETENDERING PORTAL) |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 4DF |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | HR WALLINGFORD |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

## Release History

- 5 Feb 2025 at 16:01 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003855-2025

## Notice URLs

- http://www.hrwallingford.com
- https://defra-family.force.com/s/Welcome
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04dbf5.json.