---
title: "Plant Protection Services (Line Search)"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05f296"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05f296"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05f296.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05f296.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "WALES & WEST UTILITIES LIMITED"
published: "2025-12-10"
---

# Plant Protection Services (Line Search)

Buyer: WALES & WEST UTILITIES LIMITED  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05f296

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## Summary

This procurement process, initiated by Wales & West Utilities Limited, involves the awarding of a contract for Plant Protection Services in the form of digital mapping services, valued at £892,812 (excluding VAT). This falls under the utilities industry category, with the contract spanning from 31 December 2026 to 31 December 2028, potentially extending up to 2031. Based in Newport, Wales, the buyer operates within the UKL21 region, with the supplier LINESEARCHBEFOREUDIG LIMITED located in Leicestershire. The process has reached the award stage as of 10 December 2025, with a planned contract signature date by 31 January 2026.

The procurement method was a direct award due to a lack of alternatives that meet the buyer's needs for automated asset location services. This continuation with LSBUD provides an essential technological advantage to businesses engaged in street and civil works by offering comprehensive and automated asset data. Businesses in the digital mapping and utility sectors, particularly those specialising in digital services and with strong IT capabilities, would find the continuation and future development of this contract beneficial for aligning with ongoing governmental initiatives like the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR). The contract provides stability and growth opportunities within the highly specialised field of utility mapping services.

## Notice

The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA) obligates utility companies to maintain accurate records of their underground assets and share this information with other utilities and highway authorities. WWU do this in a cost-efficient way by utilising the LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD) service which is used by over 160 Asset owners providing asset location data and safe working advice to over 300,000 registered users. There is no competitor to LSBUD in the UK at present. The development of a National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) may change this is future years, but in the interim continued usage of the LSBUD service is required in order for WWU to meet its Legal obligations.

### Procurement Information

Additional or repeat goods, services or works - Criteria Description and justification. The service has been in continual use for many years and at present there is no viable alternative in the market that has the required utility coverage the use of a similar type of service would be too distinctly different the current service. This would result in incompatibility issues with well-established WWU processes and procedures The UK government have been developing a National Underground Asset Register (NUAR). This is currently at the minimum viable product stage but the contract for developing into a commercial platform has been awarded to Ordnance Survey. The system needs further development, and the commercial model is still to be agreed. There may also be legislation to mandate its use by asset owners and anyone undertaking Street Works or civil works ahead of those works. We don't expect NUAR to be available as a platform until 2027 and therefore need to have continuity of our service and meet our requirements under the New Roads and Streetworks Act to share details of our assets and their locations with third parties. Our Plant Protection process relies heavily on the automated nature of the LSBUD system, which issues, on average, 60,000 responses a month. Any change in provider could impact how many responses are issued and how we share data with 3rd parties' requestors. The MI we receive from LSBUD allows us to priorities requests through an alert process, using a risk-based approach. The data we receive is also used as part of the damage investigation process to identify any searches undertaken in a specific area over a designated period. Significant involvement from an IT perspective would be required if a change to the system was made, to implement a new process for sharing data with 3rd parties. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Single Suppler - Criteria Description and justification LSBUD have developed a service platform which provides free plans and safety advice to those undertaking StreetWorks or other civil works. There is no alternative platform available that can support WWU need for Plant Protection Mapping Services. The platform also provides MI back to the asset owners allowing management of higher risk assets, billing of parties undertaking legal and commercial searches and a live 'Elastic' dashboard of all searches undertaken across the network through the system. LinesearchbeforeUDig (LSBUD) have developed a service for Asset owners over the past 10 years with over 160 Asset owners now using the service for which they pay a fee to LSBUD. The LSBUD service is used by over 300,000 registers users who receive free plans and safety advice. WWU previously tested the market through a tender in 2017 with only Digdat providing a response other than LSBUD. Digdat have not developed their service beyond water companies and there is no other service provider in the UK market.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/081397-2025 |
| Notice type | UK5 - Transparency Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 10 Dec 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 10 Dec 2025 |
| Contract period | 31 Dec 2026 - 31 Dec 2028 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £892,812 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | WALES & WEST UTILITIES LIMITED |
| Locality | NEWPORT |
| Post town | Newport |
| Postcode | NP10 8FZ |
| Country | Wales |
| ITL 1 | TLL Wales |
| ITL 2 | TLL5 South East Wales |
| ITL 3 | TLL54 Monmouthshire and Newport |
| Local authority | Newport |
| Electoral ward | Tredegar Park and Marshfield |
| Westminster constituency | Newport West and Islwyn |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | LINESEARCHBEFOREUDIG |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services

### Codes

- 71354100 - Digital mapping services

## Release History

- 10 Dec 2025 at 11:23 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/081397-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/081397-2025
  10th December 2025 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://lsbud.co.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.wwutilities.co.uk/

## 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-05f296. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05f296.json.