---
title: "PLANC (Permitting, Licences, Authorisations, Notifications & Consent) Assurance"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-077a79"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-077a79"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-077a79.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-077a79.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Tender"
buyer: "UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd"
published: "2026-09-25"
---

# PLANC (Permitting, Licences, Authorisations, Notifications & Consent) Assurance

Buyer: UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd  
Current stage: Tender  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-077a79

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## Summary

UK Fusion Energy Ltd is seeking an independent assurance service covering permitting, licences, authorisations, notifications and consent (PLANC) for its STEP fusion-energy programme. The supplier will provide objective challenge and assess how effectively PLANC requirements are identified, managed, integrated and delivered throughout the programme lifecycle, principally as a third-line assurance function. The work is advisory and consultative engineering and technical assurance, with related safety, evaluation and documentation services. UK Fusion Energy Ltd is responsible for delivering the UK’s prototype fusion energy plant and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority Group. The stated delivery location is the United Kingdom.

The buyer invited offers through an open procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. The procurement has one lot and reached the tender stage. Clarification questions were due by 16 October 2026 at 12:00 BST, and proposals by 29 October 2026 at 12:00 UTC. The expected award decision date was 27 November 2026. The contract is scheduled to run from 10 December 2026 to 8 December 2028, with an optional 12-month extension, up to 7 December 2029. The estimated value is £1.2 million excluding VAT (£1.44 million including VAT). Evaluation weights price at 30% and quality and social value at 70%, covering delivery model, resourcing, relevant experience, independent assurance approach, knowledge transfer, West Burton place-based contracting and two social-value measures.

This opportunity suits consultancies and engineering assurance firms able to provide independent, evidence-based scrutiny of complex permitting and regulatory arrangements across a major energy programme. Suppliers should be able to demonstrate a credible delivery model, resource appropriately qualified personnel, and show relevant experience in assurance, technical analysis, safety consultancy or comparable regulated infrastructure work. The buyer will assess the independence and strength of the assurance approach, as well as the supplier’s ability to transfer knowledge to the programme. Commercial competitiveness matters, with the blended rate carrying substantial weight, but quality and social-value responses together dominate the evaluation. SMEs are explicitly considered suitable to compete. Bidders should also be able to address the stated West Burton place-based contracting criterion and both social-value measures, alongside completing the required economic and technical selection information.

## Notice

UKFE is running a procurement process to identify a suitably qualified Supplier for the provision of PLANC (Permitting, Licences, Authorisations, Notifications & Consent) Assurance. The appointed Supplier will provide an independent assurance service, principally as a 3rd Line Assurance function, delivering objective challenge and assessment of the effectiveness of arrangements used to identify, manage, integrate and deliver PLANC requirements throughout the programme lifecycle. UK Fusion Energy Ltd (UKFE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Group, responsible for the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme to deliver the UK's prototype fusion energy plant. This is an Open procedure procurement run under the Procurement Act 2023. Interested parties are required to register (for free) on, or login to, the UKFE Delta portal to access the tender pack, to raise clarifications, to communicate with UKFE, and to submit their proposal. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at: https://ukfe.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Abingdon:-Advisory-and-consultative-engineering-services./35C3P58836 To respond to this opportunity, please click here: https://ukfe.delta-esourcing.com/respond/35C3P58836

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090964-2026 |
| Notice type | UK4 - Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Tender |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 25 Sep 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 29 Oct 2026 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 10 Dec 2026 - 8 Dec 2028 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £1,200,000 |
| Lots value | £1,200,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd |
| Locality | ABINGDON |
| Postcode area | Oxford |
| Postcode | OX14 3DB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ1 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire |
| ITL 3 | TLJ14 Oxfordshire CC |
| Local authority | South Oxfordshire |
| Electoral ward | Sandford & the Wittenhams |
| Westminster constituency | Didcot and Wantage |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services
- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 71318000 - Advisory and consultative engineering services
- 71600000 - Technical testing, analysis and consultancy services
- 71621000 - Technical analysis or consultancy services
- 79131000 - Documentation services
- 79417000 - Safety consultancy services
- 79419000 - Evaluation consultancy services

## Release History

- 25 Sep 2026 at 12:37 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090964-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/090964-2026
  25th September 2026 - Tender notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://ukfe.delta-esourcing.com/respond/35C3P58836
- https://ukfe.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Abingdon:-Advisory-and-consultative-engineering-services./35C3P58836
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-077a79. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-077a79.json.