Defra Group has launched a market engagement exercise for an upcoming tender for Ground Care and Plant for Defra Group Fleet Services with an estimated value of £96 million including VAT.

Defra Group requires a modern, sustainable, and optimised ground care equipment fleet to support operational delivery across the Group.

The aim of the procurement is to establish a long-term, Defra Group-wide contract for the supply of grounds maintenance equipment, led by the Environment Agency (as the main customer), with access available for the whole Group.

The contract is intended to provide a consistent, streamlined and effective approach to sourcing ground care and plant assets, ensuring operational readiness across Defra sites.

The contract is expected to be split into 5 Lots (see the RFI form below for more information) with a timeframe of six years (four years plus an optional two-year extension period).

The total value of potential equipment replacements is estimated at £96 million (including VAT) over the contract period.

Current estimated start and end contract dates are 30 September 2026 to 27 September 2030 with a further possible extension option up to 27 September 2032.

The Engagement will be conducted in two parts:

Part 1: Request for Information (RFI)

So that the Authority can understand capability in the market and any factors that need to be considered in designing the procurement, interested suppliers are asked to complete the Request for Information (RFI) form - click here to access the form.

The engagement deadline is 13 April 2026. The form will be open for three weeks - deadline for responding to the form is 12:00pm on Monday 13th April 2026.

Part 2: Preliminary-Market Engagement Event (PME)

The Environment Agency (Defra Group Fleet Services, DGFS), supported by Defra Group Commercial (DgC), is hosting a virtual PME event (via Microsoft Teams) on Thursday 16th April 2026 - details to be confirmed.

Suppliers are asked to use the appropriate response box in the RFI form to sign up to the event if they are interested in finding out more about this opportunity.

Following the initial PME event, Defra may host individual meetings with suppliers in order to gain more of an understanding of the market. This is expected to take place in the week commencing 20th April 2026 - if this does take place, an invitation will be sent to suppliers following the preliminary market engagement event.

Current estimated publication date of a formal tender notice is 26 May 2026.

Defra Group Commercial (DgC) will be managing the procurement on behalf of the Environment Agency (Defra Group Fleet Services).