--- title: "PRN004664 Underwater Drones" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078094" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078094" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078094.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078094.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority" published: "2026-10-05" --- # PRN004664 Underwater Drones Buyer: Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078094 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078094) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078094.json) ## Summary Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority, through Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, is exploring underwater drones and related technologies, products and services for surface-based subsurface search, identification and recovery. The equipment is intended to help locate and recover submerged casualties and objects across a range of water environments, supporting firefighter safety and operational effectiveness. The requirement is for goods, including unmanned underwater vehicles and rescue equipment. The procurement is at the planning stage, and the service is using preliminary market engagement to understand what solutions the market can offer before it develops the requirement further. This is preliminary market engagement during planning, not an invitation to tender. The buyer expects to publish a future notice by 31 December 2026. The engagement exercise is scheduled through 16 October 2026; this is an engagement date, not a bid deadline. The estimated value is £100,000 excluding VAT (£120,000 including VAT). The planned contract period runs from 4 January 2027 to 3 January 2031, with a possible extension taking it to 2 January 2032. The procurement is described as one lot and is marked as suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. No procurement procedure or evaluation basis is set out at this planning stage. The engagement is relevant to suppliers of underwater drones, unmanned underwater vehicles, rescue and emergency equipment, and technologies or services for underwater search, identification and recovery. Small and medium-sized businesses are expressly considered suitable. Suppliers with solutions that can support operations across different water environments, locate submerged casualties or objects, and assist with recovery are well placed to contribute useful market knowledge. The buyer is seeking to understand available technologies, products and services, and is interested in approaches that could improve firefighter safety and operational effectiveness. This is an opportunity to inform the development of a future requirement, rather than to compete for a contract now. No particular accreditation, technical standard or minimum delivery capacity is stated. ## Notice Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) would like to notify you of an upcoming requirement, and by doing so we are keen to widen our understanding and knowledge of the market. NFRS is conducting a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to better understand the technologies, products and services currently available within the market that could support surface-based subsurface search, identification and recovery operations. This engagement forms part of NFRS's ongoing commitment to improving firefighter safety, enhancing operational effectiveness and exploring innovative methods of locating, identifying and recovering submerged casualties and objects in a range of water environments. This PME is being undertaken via the NFRS e-procurement portal In-Tend. In order to respond to this PME, please express an interest and download the documents. All responses and queries/ question must be made via the portal available via the following link: https://supplier.in-tend.co.uk/notts-fire/home ### Planning Information Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) would like to notify you of an upcoming requirement, and by doing so we are keen to widen our understanding and knowledge of the market. NFRS is conducting a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to better understand the technologies, products and services currently available within the market that could support surface-based subsurface search, identification and recovery operations. This engagement forms part of NFRS's ongoing commitment to improving firefighter safety, enhancing operational effectiveness and exploring innovative methods of locating, identifying and recovering submerged casualties and objects in a range of water environments. This PME is being undertaken via the NFRS e-procurement portal In-Tend. In order to respond to this PME, please express an interest and download the documents. All responses and queries/ question must be made via the portal available via the following link: https://supplier.in-tend.co.uk/notts-fire/home ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/093734-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Goods | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 5 Oct 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 31 Dec 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 4 Jan 2027 - 3 Jan 2031 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £100,000 | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority | | Locality | NOTTINGHAM | | Postcode area | Nottingham | | Postcode | NG5 8PP | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLF1 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | | ITL 3 | TLF16 South Nottinghamshire | | Local authority | Gedling | | Electoral ward | Calverton | | Westminster constituency | Sherwood Forest | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 35 - Security, fire-fighting, police and defence equipment ### Codes - 35110000 - Firefighting, rescue and safety equipment - 35112000 - Rescue and emergency equipment - 35512400 - Unmanned underwater vehicles ## Release History - 5 Oct 2026 at 11:46 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/093734-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/093734-2026 5th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://supplier.in-tend.co.uk/notts-fire/home - 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-078094. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078094.json.