HS2 MWC North Rayleigh Waves Contract Opportunity

Contracts Finder - Open Opportunities

Published March 13th, 2026

Detected March 13th, 2026

Summary

UK's HS2 project has published a contract notice for the MWC North Rayleigh Waves service, with an estimated value between £1,000,000 and £2,500,000. The tender closes on March 27, 2026, with the contract expected to start in November 2026.

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What changed

This notice announces an open procurement opportunity for services related to measuring shear wave velocity for the HS2 MWC North project. The contract, valued between £1,000,000 and £2,500,000, requires suppliers to provide equipment, labor, and supervision for testing up to 7m depth, including reporting and interpretation of results. The tender process emphasizes risk ownership and requires detailed methodologies, such as MASW or CSW, with justifications and references.

Potential suppliers must submit their bids by March 27, 2026, 12pm. The contract is scheduled to commence on November 15, 2026, and conclude on December 9, 2030. Companies interested in bidding should review the detailed requirements for testing, reporting formats, and subcontracting restrictions. This is a service contract and is not suitable for SMEs or VCSEs.

What to do next

Review contract requirements for shear wave velocity measurement services.
Prepare and submit tender bids by the closing date of March 27, 2026.
Ensure proposed methodologies (MASW/CSW) are justified with references.

Source document (simplified)

Published date: 13 March 2026

Open opportunity - This means that the contract is currently active, and the buying department is looking for potential suppliers to fulfil the contract.

Watch this notice Print this notice Closing: 27 March 2026, 12pm

Contract summary

Industry

Surface observing apparatus - 38126000
Surface tension measuring instruments - 38425700

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£1,000,000 to £2,500,000

Procurement reference

C4N108712132

Published date

13 March 2026

Closing date

27 March 2026

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

15 November 2026

Contract end date

9 December 2030

Contract type

Service contract

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Description

BBV intends to appoint their preferred bidders on the basis that risks are owned by those best able to manage the risk. Successful tenderers will be required to provide the equipment, labour and supervision to carry out the measurement of the shear waves velocity and ensure delivery of their package of works with the interpretation of the results via a report included. Each offer is required to identify the areas where shared responsibility or a change in responsibility would offer value to the project.
Rates to include reports, staff, preliminary visits, site inductions, testing, equipment's, calibration of equipment to enable contractor to carry out the measure of the shear waves velocity.
The measure of shear waves velocity would be happening during the hold period on the weather protection layer to limit the interaction with other parties and affect the collection of data. The depth of measuring should be up to 7m depth and on 1 lane of measurement.
All reports are to be supplied in an agreed format, such as PDF/Word/Excel. Any agreed format and colours mapping is not to be changed without agreement. Reports are to be emailed to agreed email addresses within 2 weeks after completion of the site measures. Where client specification is supplied this is to be included on report.
No external agencies can be subcontracted to without the approval from BBV.

Method of testing
Two (2) method of testing might be proposed in the tender, but it should be clearly defined. The tenderer should justify of using this method previously and provide suitable references.

MASW method (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves)

The geophysical survey used MASW to generate and record surface wave energy. The recorded energy was analysed to produce modelled S-wave velocity profiles.
The MASW method relies on surface wave seismic energy (specifically Rayleigh waves) which can be generated by an active source (usually an impact event). The propagating surface wave energy was recorded with a linear array of geophones. The captured dataset from a single source event is referred to as a 'shot gather.'
The shot gathers are analysed to measure the Rayleigh wave 'dispersion' (velocity as a function of frequency). Dispersion of Rayleigh waves occurs because their depth penetration is dependent on wavelength. Higher frequency (shorter wavelength) Rayleigh waves will typically propagate at a relatively low velocity, representing shallow materials, while lower frequency (longer wavelength) Rayleigh waves will typically propagate at a higher velocity, representing deeper materials.

CSW method (Continuous surfaces Wave)

The CSW testing system uses a vibrating source with an operating range of 5 to 100 Hz to produce surface or Rayleigh waves that propagate across the ground. These waves are detected by a system of geophones and analysed using software to provide a stiffness versus depth profile. If required, office-based post-processing can provide