RM6390 Energy and Decarbonisation Services: What Suppliers Should Do Before the Notice

RM6390 Energy and Decarbonisation Services: What Suppliers Should Do Before the Notice

RM6390 Energy and Decarbonisation Services is the incoming CCS framework for public sector energy supply and related services, expected to publish its Find a Tender notice in July 2026 with framework award anticipated in December 2026. The framework will aggregate approximately £50 billion of public sector energy demand and replaces the previous RM6251 Supply of Energy 2, covering electricity and gas supply, energy partnership services, bureau services, metering and enhanced Power Purchase Agreements.

This week (week starting 2026-07-03), suppliers and energy consultancies should be finalising technical pre-qualification evidence, assembling parent company guarantees where needed, and preparing case studies that demonstrate both scale and decarbonisation impact. The notice could drop any day now, and the window from publication to submission deadline will be tight.

Who should bid

RM6390 is not a framework for small regional brokers or single-site metering installers. The scale of aggregated demand and the likely parent company guarantee or insurance bond requirements mean this is structured for incumbent utility suppliers, large multi-utility providers, and established energy procurement partnerships with balance sheet credibility.

If you supply electricity or gas to fewer than 500 public sector sites, or if your annual turnover in energy services is below £10 million, you will struggle to meet the financial standing thresholds. CCS frameworks at this value band routinely set minimum turnover requirements at two to three times the largest anticipated call-off contract. For a framework aggregating £50 billion over four years with extension, assume that means demonstrating turnover in the tens of millions and either a strong credit rating or a parent company guarantee from an entity with investment-grade standing.

Energy partnership services and bureau offerings broaden the supplier pool slightly. These lots will suit consultancies that manage energy procurement, carbon reporting, and contract administration on behalf of multiple public sector clients. But the same financial standing rules apply. If you operate as a sole trader consultancy or a limited company with retained profits below £500,000, you are not the target bidder.

Enhanced Power Purchase Agreements and metering services will attract renewables developers, aggregators, and metering-as-a-service providers. These are the lots where newer entrants have a credible route in, provided they can evidence delivery at public sector scale and meet the current sustainability and modern slavery reporting thresholds.

What to prepare now

The legislation introduced in the previous Procurement Act 2023 changes how technical and quality criteria are assessed. Evaluators score based on published award criteria, and contracting authorities must now explain how each submission meets or fails to each criterion. This is a move away from the older five-point scoring scale used under the legacy Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Expect frameworks issued as of 2026-07-03 to use more granular scoring, often out of 100, with detailed descriptors for each mark band.

Start by auditing your case studies. You need at least three examples per lot you intend to bid for, each demonstrating work with a public sector client or a private sector client of equivalent scale and complexity. For electricity and gas supply lots, that means case studies showing multi-site portfolios, ideally with at least 100 sites and annual consumption above 50 GWh. For decarbonisation and energy partnership services, focus on case studies that show measurable carbon reductions, typically expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent avoided, and link those reductions to contractual KPIs or reporting frameworks like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Assemble your financial documents now. You will need the last three years of audited accounts, evidence of professional indemnity and public liability insurance, and either a parent company guarantee or a performance bond if your balance sheet does not meet the threshold independently. If you are part of a group structure, decide now whether you will bid as the trading entity or the group holding company. The financial standing test will reference the legal entity that signs the framework agreement, so this is not a detail to leave until the tender response stage.

Check your modern slavery statement and your carbon reduction plan. Both are now routine asks on frameworks of this value. Your modern slavery statement must be published on your website and must cover your own operations and your supply chain. Your carbon reduction plan must show baseline emissions, reduction targets, and progress to date. If you do not have a published carbon reduction plan as of 2026-07-03, draft one now. It does not need to be elaborate, but it must exist and it must be dated.

How evaluation works under the new regime

RM6390 will be one of the first major CCS frameworks awarded entirely under the regime introduced by the previous Procurement Act 2023. The legislation requires contracting authorities to set award criteria that are linked to the subject matter of the contract and to publish those criteria in advance. Price, quality, and social value are the usual components, but the weighting and the detailed sub-criteria vary by lot.

A worked example: assume a lot for energy partnership services is weighted 60 per cent quality, 40 per cent price. Within the quality score, expect sub-criteria like approach to decarbonisation (20 per cent), contract management and reporting (15 per cent), risk management and resilience (15 per cent), and social value including net zero transition support (10 per cent). Each sub-criterion is scored out of 100, then weighted. A strong submission on decarbonisation that scores 85 out of 100 contributes 17 marks to your overall quality score (85 multiplied by 20 per cent). A weak submission scoring 40 contributes 8 marks.

Evaluators now work to published descriptors. A score of 85 might be defined as "comprehensive evidence of delivering measurable carbon reductions aligned to science-based targets, with clear methodology and independent verification". A score of 40 might be "limited evidence of carbon impact, with general statements not linked to measurable outcomes". The shift is away from subjective preference and towards evidenced alignment with the descriptor. This means your case studies must be specific: state the baseline carbon intensity, the intervention, the measured reduction, and the verification method. Do not write that you "supported the client's net zero ambitions". Write that you reduced Scope 2 emissions by 1,200 tonnes CO2e through a switch to a 100 per cent renewable electricity tariff verified under the RE100 framework.

Price evaluation will likely use a relative scoring model. If the lowest price in the lot is £50 per site per annum for bureau services and your price is £60, you score (50 divided by 60) multiplied by 100, which is 83 out of 100. That score is then weighted by the price percentage, often 40 per cent in frameworks with significant quality differentiation.

The consequence of this model is that being 20 per cent more expensive than the lowest bidder costs you roughly seven overall points if price is weighted at 40 per cent. If your quality score is strong enough to offset that, you remain competitive. If your quality score is only marginally above the lowest bidder, you will not win call-offs.

Preparing for call-off competition

Winning a place on RM6390 is not the revenue event. CCS frameworks are access mechanisms. Revenue comes from call-off contracts awarded through further competition, direct award, or a combination. Our revenue model reflects this reality: we charge a success fee tied to call-off contract wins, not framework award.

Framework award gives you the right to compete for call-offs. Winning call-offs depends on your capacity to respond quickly, your track record in the specific sub-sector the buyer represents, and your pricing relative to other framework suppliers. A typical call-off mini-competition on a CCS framework will give you two to three weeks from issue of the brief to submission deadline. Buyers will use a simplified version of the framework evaluation model, often reducing the number of case studies required and focusing the quality questions on the specific contract scope.

If you are bidding for RM6390 as a route to growth, model your pipeline in terms of call-offs, not framework value. A £50 billion aggregated demand framework with 30 suppliers means the average supplier sees £1.67 billion in potential revenue over the life of the framework. But actual revenue per supplier will follow a power law distribution. The top five suppliers will likely take 60 to 70 per cent of call-off spend. If you are a new entrant or a smaller player, your realistic call-off capture might be £50 million to £100 million over four years. That is still a significant opportunity, but it requires active call-off pipeline management and rapid response capability.

Frequently asked questions

Can a small energy consultancy with five staff realistically bid for RM6390 or is it only for the major utilities?

The framework structure will include lots aimed at consultancy and partnership services where smaller firms can compete, but financial standing thresholds and parent company guarantee requirements will screen out most firms below £5 million turnover. If you specialise in a niche area like enhanced PPAs or decarbonisation advisory and can demonstrate public sector case studies at scale, you have a route in on specific lots. If you are a general energy broker without balance sheet depth, you will not meet the entry criteria.

What is the typical success fee percentage for call-off support and when is it payable?

Our success fee for call-off contract wins is typically in the range of 5 to 8 per cent of contract value, payable on contract signature or in staged payments linked to mobilisation milestones. The fee is only due if you win the call-off contract. Framework award itself does not trigger a fee because framework award generates no revenue. This model aligns our commercial interest with yours: we succeed when you win revenue-generating work, not when you gain access to compete.

How much time should I allow between framework award in December 2026 and the first call-off opportunities?

First call-offs typically begin within three months of framework go-live, but volume ramps over six to twelve months as buying organisations transition from legacy arrangements. Expect the period from January to June 2027 to be the busiest for initial call-off competitions. You need resource in place to respond to multiple mini-competitions in parallel during that window, particularly if you are bidding across several lots. A single call-off response requires two to three person-days of effort if you have a well-structured response library. Plan for a pipeline of five to ten opportunities in the first six months.

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