AWARD OUTCOME
What happened
Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult has directly awarded ABB LIMITED a contract to upgrade the ACS6000 drive system on the 3MW drive train at its Nautilus facility in Blyth. The work covers replacement of the control platform with ABB’s USU-26 system and hardware replacement intended to address ageing-component lifecycle and spare-parts availability issues.
Published outcomeA single active award and active contract are reported for ABB LIMITED. The contract was signed on 9 October 2026, starts on 12 October 2026 and ends on 30 September 2028.
Market significanceThis is a specialist OEM-led upgrade valued at £605,848.80 gross. The buyer cited ABB’s manufacture of the equipment and specific knowledge of the ageing drives as the technical basis for a direct award.
AWARDED SUPPLIERS AND LOTS
1 supplier record analysed
ABB LIMITED
99% confidenceAward 1 · Lots 1 · 605848.80 GBP · Active award; active contract
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Award 1 names ABB Limited as its sole supplier; supplier verification provides ABB LIMITED as the verified legal company name. The single contract linked to award 1 has a gross value of GBP 605,848.80.
LIFECYCLE
Award or contract stage
Procurement status
99% confidenceComplete
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The tender and sole lot are recorded with status "complete".
Award status
99% confidenceActive
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Award 1 is recorded with status "active".
Contract status
99% confidenceActive
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Contract 1 is recorded with status "active".
Contract signature
99% confidenceSigned on 9 October 2026
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Contract 1 records dateSigned as 2026-10-09.
Contract period
99% confidence12 October 2026 to 30 September 2028
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Contract 1 period records startDate 2026-10-12 and endDate 2028-09-30.
VALUES
Published values explained
Contract value
99% confidence£605,848.80 gross
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Contract 1 value records amountGross 605848.8 and currency GBP.
Award value
98% confidence£605,848.80
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Award 1 is recorded with value_amount 605848.8 GBP; it is linked to the sole contract and sole supplier.
Lot value
99% confidenceNot published
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Lot 1 has no value amount or currency in the supplied data.
TIMELINE
Procurement timeline
Transparency notice
98% confidence29 September 2026
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Release history records transparency notice 092065-2026 on 2026-09-29.
Contract award notice
99% confidence29 September 2026
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Release history records contract award notice 092066-2026 on 2026-09-29; award 1 is also dated 2026-09-29.
Contract signed
99% confidence9 October 2026
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Contract 1 records dateSigned as 2026-10-09.
Contract details notice published
99% confidence9 October 2026
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Document 095556-2026 was published at 2026-10-09T11:18:49+01:00.
Contract start
99% confidence12 October 2026
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Contract 1 period startDate is 2026-10-12.
Contract end
99% confidence30 September 2028
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Contract 1 period endDate is 2028-09-30.
SCOPE
What was awarded
Requirement
99% confidenceUpgrade of the ACS6000 drive system on the 3MW drive train at the Nautilus facility in Blyth.
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The procurement description states this purpose explicitly.
Control-platform work
99% confidenceReplacement of the existing control platform with ABB’s USU-26 system.
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Listed as a key element in the procurement description.
Hardware work
99% confidenceHardware replacement to improve spare-parts availability and remove lifecycle issues associated with ageing components.
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Listed as a key element in the procurement description.
Procurement category
98% confidenceGoods
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Award 1 records mainProcurementCategory as goods.
CPV classification
98% confidence34320000 — Mechanical spare parts except engines and engine parts
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Award item 1 contains this additional CPV classification.
Delivery geography
95% confidenceUnited Kingdom
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The award item delivery address is recorded at UK level only.
PROCEDURE
Procedure and competition
Procedure
99% confidenceDirect award
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The tender records procurementMethod and procurementMethodDetails as direct / Direct award.
Direct-award rationale
99% confidenceThe buyer states ABB manufactured the drive equipment and that no other companies had the specific knowledge of the ageing 3MW electronic drives needed to upgrade the system.
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Tender procurementMethodRationale provides this explanation; rationale classification is singleSuppliersTechnicalReasons.
Lots
99% confidenceOne lot
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Tender data lists lot 1 only; award 1 is linked to lot 1.
Competition information
99% confidenceNot published
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No bid, participant, evaluation or score information is supplied.
CONTRACT TERMS
Published contract terms
Term
98% confidenceApproximately 23 months and 19 days
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Calculated from the explicit contract period of 12 October 2026 to 30 September 2028.
Above-threshold flag
99% confidenceYes
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Contract 1 records aboveThreshold as true.
Extensions or options
99% confidenceNot published
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No extension, option or renewal terms are supplied.
COMMERCIAL VIEW
Commercial observations
OEM technical dependency
96% confidenceThe stated direct-award rationale indicates that access to manufacturer-specific knowledge of ageing ABB drive technology was material to the buyer’s route to market.
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The buyer says ABB manufactured the equipment and that no other company had the specific knowledge needed for the upgrade.
Asset-lifecycle focus
98% confidenceThe stated scope centres on replacing ageing controls and hardware to improve supportability and spare-parts availability.
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The description cites lifecycle issues with ageing components and spare-parts availability.
Published commercial structure
99% confidenceOne supplier, one award, one lot and one linked contract are reported.
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Supplied award, lot and contract data each contain a single record linked by ID 1.
DATA QUALITY
Gaps and source limitations
Supplier identity quality
99% confidenceVerified
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The supplied verification workflow records ABB LIMITED, company number 03780764, as an exact-name verified match; no source-name mismatch is flagged.
Value basis
99% confidenceGross contract value published
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The contract reports amountGross only; no net value or pricing breakdown is supplied.
Lot detail
99% confidenceLot 1 has no published title, description or individual value.
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Lot 1 fields for title, description and value are null.
Competition and evaluation detail
99% confidenceInformation not supplied in the published notice.
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The supplied data contains no bid count, tenderer list, scores, award criteria or evaluation narrative.
Conflict-of-interest document
99% confidenceNot published
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The tender documents list the conflictOfInterest document with description "Not published".
SOURCE DATA LIMITATIONS
Information not supplied in the published notice
- Information not supplied in the published notice: bid count, competing suppliers, evaluation criteria, scores, pricing breakdown and savings.
- Lot 1 has no published title, description or separate value.
- No extension, option or renewal terms are published; the reprocurement timing is only an end-date-based estimate.
- The delivery address is published only at United Kingdom level, although the requirement description references the Nautilus facility in Blyth.
- The conflict-of-interest document is identified as not published.
MARKET THEMES
Relevant award themes
ABB LIMITEDOffshore Renewable Energy CatapultDrive System UpgradeACS6000Nautilus facilityBlythdirect awardUSU-26Find a Tender
COMMON QUESTIONS
About this award
Who won the Drive System Upgrade contract?
ABB LIMITED is the verified legal supplier for the single award.
What is the contract value?
The published gross contract value is £605,848.80.
When does the contract run?
The contract was signed on 9 October 2026, starts on 12 October 2026 and ends on 30 September 2028.
Why was a direct award used?
The buyer states that ABB manufactured the equipment and that no other company had the specific knowledge of the ageing 3MW electronic drives required for the upgrade.
ProcuraAxis award analysis supplements, but does not replace, the official award notice, contract data or procurement documents. “Awarded” does not by itself prove that a contract has been signed.