Contract award

Northern Gas Networks adds three firms to 50 million pound framework

By Staff Writer  |  28 August 2026

Northern Gas Networks has appointed three contractors to the second phase of its Direct Service Provider framework, in an award recorded at 50,000,000 pounds net and 60,000,000 pounds including VAT. The contract award notice, identifier 081766-2026, was published on 27 August 2026 at 1:39pm.

The three appointed suppliers are T G Pipelines Limited of Derby, Stobbarts Ltd of Workington and Mole Tech Solutions Ltd of Houghton le Spring. The notice records all three as small or medium sized enterprises. The award is dated 27 August 2026 and the notice gives 9 September 2026 as the scheduled signature date, with the contract period beginning on 10 September 2026 and running to 12 March 2029. A maximum extent date of 12 March 2032 is recorded, and the stated extension arrangement is that contracts can be extended in line with business requirements.

This is an expansion of a framework that already exists, not a replacement for it. The buyer states that the current Direct Service Provider framework runs until 2029 with options to extend, that capacity constraints within it mean additional suppliers are required to ensure sufficient resource availability across the network, and that the phase two appointment is intended to supplement rather than replace the existing supply.

What the three firms have been appointed to do

The scope stated on the notice covers both natural gas and hydrogen, and the buyer describes it as including but not limited to the work set out below.

The essential scope requirement is all mains and services replacement, abandonment, general and specific reinforcement, diversionary and connections works. Mains work comprises the laying and relaying of polyethylene and steel mains up to 48 inch or 1200mm diameter, laid and tested to main laying standards, together with any service up to 63mm diameter and any associated abandonment. Service work comprises the installation of new, or the renewal and transfer of existing, polyethylene services up to 63mm diameter and steel services up to 2 inch diameter. Riser work comprises the installation of new, or the renewal and transfer of existing, polyethylene risers up to 32mm diameter and steel risers up to 3 inch diameter. Connections and disconnections are covered at low, medium and intermediate pressure. Survey and enabling works are included, both invasive and non-invasive.

How it was procured

The legal basis given is the Procurement Act 2023. The procurement method is recorded as selective under a competitive flexible procedure, the notice states that a framework agreement technique was used, and the procurement is marked as falling under the utilities arrangements. The award is recorded as above threshold and the assessment summaries were sent on 27 August 2026. The classification carried by the award item is 45231220, construction work for gas pipelines.

The buyer is registered at 1100 Century Way, Colton, Leeds, and is classified on the notice as a private utility.

What the notice does not say

The award is a single lot shared between three suppliers and the notice does not break the 50,000,000 pounds down between them, nor does it state how work will be allocated once the framework is live. It does not say how many suppliers sat on the phase one framework, so the size of the expansion relative to the original cannot be read from this document. It gives no volume, no length of main and no annual programme figure against which the ceiling could be tested.

The hydrogen reference is worth reading precisely. It appears in the scope description as a duty applying to the same categories of work, mains, services, risers and connections, rather than as a separate hydrogen conversion programme with its own value or timetable. Nothing on the notice quantifies it.

For a contractor now working out whether the phase three event, if there is one, is worth preparing for, the operative sentence is the one about capacity. The buyer has said in its own words that resource availability across the network was the reason for going back to the market, and that is a statement about workload rather than about price.