RM6399 Lot 8 of 10
RM6399 Lot 8: Infrastructure and Public Services
Consultancy to support the strategic planning, development and optimisation of national infrastructure, transport networks and civic spaces, through to implementation and delivery but excluding construction. Part of the £5 billion excluding VAT (£6 billion including VAT) Consultancy and Professional Services framework, which replaces RM6309 Management Consultancy Framework Four (MCF4).
Submissions close 3pm on Monday 9 November 2026 (32 days remaining). Clarification questions close 3pm on Thursday 22 October 2026.
Lot 8 at a glance
- Framework
- RM6399 Consultancy and Professional Services
- Buyer
- Government Commercial Agency
- Submissions close
- 3pm on Monday 9 November 2026
- Clarifications close
- 3pm on Thursday 22 October 2026
- Estimated lot value
- £200 million excluding VAT
- Award criteria
- Quality 90%, price 10%
- Call-off cap
- None stated in the notice
- Term
- 24 June 2027 to 23 June 2031 (estimated), four years
- Suppliers
- Maximum 500 across all ten lots
- Portal
- CCS/GCA BravoSolution (Jaggaer)
- Scope cues from the notice
- Infrastructure strategy and planning, transport and highways consultancy, business cases for capital programmes, public service design and optimisation, asset and estates strategy and programme assurance. Construction works and construction professional services are excluded and sit on CWAS3 and the Pagabo professional services frameworks.
How Lot 8 is scored
Award criteria as published on Find a Tender notice 2026/S 000-087183. Confirm the question set and sub-weightings in the ITT on the portal.
Quality 90 percent, price 10 percent. The exclusion of construction is the line that matters most on this lot. Evidence that is really design, cost consultancy or contract administration will be read as out of scope, so the submission has to be about advice on infrastructure and services rather than delivery of works.
Who should bid this lot
Infrastructure advisory firms, transport planning and economics consultancies, public service design practices, asset and estates strategists and programme assurance specialists. Engineering consultancies with an advisory arm should bid that arm here and keep design and construction supervision on the construction frameworks.
The notice flags every RM6399 lot as particularly suitable for SMEs and VCSEs, and caps the framework at 500 suppliers in total. The general rule is to bid the lots you can evidence rather than the lots you would like to hold. Evaluators score depth of evidence per lot, and firms that bid two or three lots properly consistently outperform those that spread thin across six.
What actually scores
Business cases that secured funding, with the programme and the value. Transport or infrastructure strategies adopted by the authority and what they changed. Service redesigns with the user outcome and the cost effect. Named leads with Green Book, Treasury or major programme assurance experience and the infrastructure bodies they have advised.
The mistake that loses marks on this lot
Submitting construction professional services evidence. The notice excludes construction explicitly on Lot 8. A firm that evidences design or cost management work is answering a different framework's question, and the evaluator will say so. Keep the evidence to planning, strategy, business cases and assurance.
Lot 8 questions
Does RM6399 Lot 8 replace CWAS3 for construction consultancy?
No. Lot 8 excludes construction. Design, cost management, project management of works and the other construction professional services remain on CWAS3 (RM6320) and the equivalent Pagabo and NHS SBS frameworks. Lot 8 is strategic and advisory work on infrastructure and public services.
Is transport planning in scope?
Yes. The lot description names transport networks, and the Lot 3 and Lot 8 CPV lists include highways and infrastructure works consultancy. Transport strategy, modelling, appraisal and business cases are the sort of work the lot is designed to buy.
Can a small specialist firm compete here?
Yes, and the structure favours it. A £200 million lot scored 90 percent on quality rewards a firm with five infrastructure business cases it can name over a large firm with a general infrastructure capability. The notice flags all ten lots as particularly suitable for SMEs.
Lot values, weightings and the timetable were taken from Find a Tender notice 2026/S 000-087183 and last reviewed on 6 October 2026. The ITT on the CCS/GCA BravoSolution (Jaggaer) portal is the only authority on the questions, the word counts and the conditions of participation, so confirm them there before you plan.
Bidding RM6399 Lot 8?
Submissions close 3pm on Monday 9 November 2026. Tell us which lots you are considering and what evidence you hold, and a director will come back the same working day with a straight view on whether the bid is winnable and what it would take.