---
title: "CP2821-26 Study of Carbon Sequestration and Soil Health Impacts within Highway Earthworks"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078004"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078004"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078004.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078004.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Tender"
buyer: "Devon County Council"
published: "2026-10-02"
---

# CP2821-26 Study of Carbon Sequestration and Soil Health Impacts within Highway Earthworks

Buyer: Devon County Council  
Current stage: Tender  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078004

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## Summary

Devon County Council is seeking research and technical analysis into how highway construction affects soil carbon and soil health, and whether biochar, enhanced mineral weathering and mycorrhizal fungi can improve carbon sequestration and long-term storage. The study supports the council’s carbon-reduction work on the A382 Link Road near Newton Abbot, including its carbon-negative ambitions. The work concerns highway earthworks, verges and associated landscape areas, and is intended to investigate the potential for these approaches to be incorporated into conventional earthworks. The service combines environmental research, ground investigation and analysis or consultancy. Delivery is in Devon, in the Newton Abbot area.

The buyer invited offers through a below-threshold open competition. The procurement reached the tender stage. The deadline for questions was 23 October 2026 at midnight, and the submission deadline was 30 October 2026 at 12:00 noon. The contract period is scheduled to run from 20 November 2026 to 1 June 2029. The stated available budget is £150,000 to £170,000; the upper estimated value is £170,000 excluding VAT (£204,000 including VAT). There is one lot. Award is based on a price-and-quality assessment: price is assessed on total cost, while quality is assessed against the tender documentation. The council’s published selection criteria are set out in the tender documentation.

This opportunity is suited to suppliers able to design and deliver applied environmental research into soils and carbon in the context of highway construction. Relevant strengths include assessing how earthworks affect soil carbon and health, and investigating biochar, enhanced mineral weathering and mycorrhizal fungi as potential interventions. Suppliers should be able to evaluate carbon sequestration and longer-term storage in highway verges and landscape areas, and relate findings to practical earthworks operations. The work calls for research, technical analysis or consultancy, and ground investigation capability. Small and medium-sized enterprises are considered suitable. The competitive assessment balances total cost with the quality of the proposed approach; suppliers will need to demonstrate a credible research and analysis plan suited to the road development’s carbon-reduction objectives.

## Notice

Devon County Council (DCC), is delivering the A382 Link Road Development near Newton Abbot, Devon. In addition to the main scheme, additional funding has been made available through the ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads programme to fund carbon reduction measures on the project. The scheme seeks not only to improve highway safety, network resilience and traffic flow, but also to demonstrate innovative approaches to reducing and removing carbon emissions from highway construction activities. As part of the project's carbon-negative aspirations, DCC wishes to investigate the impact of construction activities on soil carbon levels and the potential benefits of incorporating biochar, enhanced mineral weathering and mycorrhizal fungi into traditional highway earthworks operations. Emerging research suggests that these products may increase carbon sequestration rates, improve soil health and increase long-term carbon storage within highway verges and associated landscape areas. The budget available is between PS150,000 and PS170,000 further details on the cost strategy are given in the documentation.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/093474-2026 |
| Notice type | UK4 - Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Below threshold - open competition |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Tender |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 30 Oct 2026 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 20 Nov 2026 - 1 Jun 2029 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £170,000 |
| Lots value | £170,000 |
| 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 | Devon County Council |
| Locality | EXETER |
| Postcode area | Exeter |
| Postcode | EX2 4QD |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLK4 Devon |
| ITL 3 | TLK43 Devon CC |
| Local authority | Exeter |
| Electoral ward | Newtown and St Leonard's |
| Westminster constituency | Exeter |
| Delivery location | TLK43 Devon CC |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services
- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
- 90 - Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services

### Codes

- 71351500 - Ground investigation services
- 71621000 - Technical analysis or consultancy services
- 73110000 - Research services
- 90710000 - Environmental management

## Release History

- 2 Oct 2026 at 15:39 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/093474-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/093474-2026
  2nd October 2026 - Tender notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.devon.gov.uk
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.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-078004. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078004.json.