Thames Water has gone out to tender with a contract for household debt collection services covering an annual debt forecast with a total value of £121.5 million.
The water company is looking to appoint up 8 suppliers to the framework agreement, which will run for up to 7 years. Any agreement awarded will be for an initial duration of three years, with options to extend annually up to a maximum overall term of seven years.
The tender is split into the following three Lots:
Lot 1: Active Accounts, 1st placement
Lot 2: Active Accounts, 2nd placement
Lot 3: Final / Closed Accounts — Trace and collect activity
It will be up to the debt collection agencies to decide what activity is carried out for each lot, although for Lot 3, the Trace activity is a pre-requisite.
Thames Water said during the lifetime of the contract there will be significant change within its customer services area and also within Thames Water. The water company is highlighting the possibility that some of the processes / steps that will be implemented at contract award may change during the contract period in line with the transformation. The new suppliers may be expected to help Thames Water towards this.
Thames also said that while the initial scope of the future contracts will be Thames Water's household debt, it is possible that the scope will be extended in future to include non-household debt.
The water company has provided indicative forecast levels anticipated under each Lot:
Lot 1: Approximately 93 000 accounts per annum with a forecast annual total value of debt of £52m
Lot 2: Approximately 76 000 accounts per annum with a forecast annual total value of debt of £50m
Lot 3: Approximately 60 000 accounts per annum with a forecast annual total value of debt of £19.5m
Holding an interim Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) licence will be a key requirement for bidders to participate in the tender. Deadline for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is noon on 7th April – click here to acces the tender documentation.