Castle Water and Business Stream win multi-million pound public sector contract

Water companies awarded contracts through the Crown Commercial Service framework

Castle Water has secured a national contract through the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework for the provision of water and wastewater services to the public sector in England, worth an estimated £28.9m

Meanwhile Business Stream has also been awarded a contract via the framework, which is potentially worth £10.6 million.

More than 120 customers were involved in the CCS aggregation, which can help the government, public and third sector organisations save time and money when buying common goods and services.

The CCS said two “baskets” made up this aggregation, with Basket A (monthly billing) being awarded to Castle Water and Basket B (quarterly billing) being won by Business Stream.

Castle Water claims to be the first water retailer to “successfully carry out the bulk transfer” of English customers in Portsmouth, London and the Thames Valley. The company will now extend its services to supply contracts for up to three years to select public sector customers nationally, including those located in Yorkshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

John Reynolds, chief executive of Castle Water, said: “As the UK’s leading independent water retailer, we supply hundreds of thousands of businesses, charities and public bodies throughout England and Scotland.

“We see this as a further opportunity to use our expertise in delivering best value and significant cost savings for our growing number of public sector customers in the new competitive market.”

Sam Ulyatt, strategic category commercial director for Crown Commercial Service, added: “In April we brought the largest public sector water framework agreement to the UK market.

“The agreement will eventually support the public sector to save £20 million on its water bill, leveraging the buying power of the public sector to support the delivery of efficient and effective public services.”

The CCS valued the public sector water retail market at £960 million.