Development of a Sector Platform for the Energy, Water, and Waste and Recycling Industries.
1. Purpose of this Notice
The Energy & Utility Skills Group is notifying the market of a forthcoming Invitation to Tender for the design, development, and delivery of a single sector-level web-based platform. Providers with capability in web design and development, search engine optimisation, conversion rate optimisation, data analytics, digital experience, and platform integration are invited to register interest and offer any early reflections they wish to share ahead of formal procurement.
This platform will act as the single digital destination for sector attraction, careers, training, and workforce mobility across the energy, water, and waste and recycling industries. It will help make these essential industries easier to engage with, whilst supporting the UK’s energy transition, delivering the unprecedented investment in the water sector, and enhancing national resilience.
2. Background
The UK’s energy, water, and waste and recycling industries collectively employ hundreds of thousands of people and underpin national infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
However, the digital environment supporting career entry, training, and workforce movement is fragmented across multiple channels and systems. To address this, EUSG intends to commission the creation of a single, web-based ‘system-level’ platform that integrates sector promotion, workforce development, and employer engagement in one user-friendly system.
3. Scope and System Requirements
The proposed system will serve as the primary digital attraction and workforce destination for the energy, water, and waste and recycling industries.
The system may explore AI-driven features (e.g., automated matching, personalised training recommendations) to signal innovation.
The system will deliver on four key capabilities:
Attraction and Engagement
- Act as the system-level sector attraction destination for energy, water, and waste and recycling, continuously ‘fed’ by Energy & Utility Skills member organisations, endorsing partners, government, and social media promotion.
- Provide careers advice for new entrants, supported by case studies and influencer content that highlight sector opportunities.
- Serve as the ‘candidate referral’ destination, helping skilled professionals remain within the sector.
- Host a partner advocacy and alumni network, connecting users to institutes, professional memberships, and recognition schemes.
Talent Matching and Opportunity Integration
- Offer automated role matching based on a candidate’s skills, experience, and career stage.
- Integrate with vacancy feeds from employers and alert candidates to relevant opportunities across the energy, water, and waste and recycling industries.
- Include occupational profiling to simplify transitions between roles and reduce confusion caused by job title variation.
- Provide a direct link to national Jobcentre systems to enable customer matching to roles or sector entry programmes.
Training and Development
- Integrate with training providers, enabling users to discover routes to competence, including courses and qualifications that enhance competitiveness and employability.
- Support talent to create a digital profile / CV to register on the platform and be competitive in the talent pool. Profile / CV to potentially combine text, video and audio, and to capture completed training.
- Host digital training packages developed for sector-wide use and upskilling.
Recruitment and Insight
- Enable recruiters and employers to identify and invite suitable candidates directly to selection processes.
- Provide a secure, data-rich platform offering sector wide workforce insights to inform strategic workforce planning and support sector-wide analytics.
- Comply with all relevant data protection, cybersecurity, and accessibility standards.
4. Market Engagement Objectives
Through this early engagement activity, the Energy & Utility Skills Group seeks to:
- Increase awareness of the forthcoming procurement among suitable providers.
- Gain visibility of market capability and innovation, including AI.
- Understand any high-level considerations that providers may wish to share ahead of the formal ITT.
- Support a transparent and well-informed procurement process.
5. Indicative Timelines
| Milestone | Date |
| Early Engagement Notice issued | 13 November 2025 |
| ITT documentation development (EUS-led) | 20 November – 11 December 2025 |
| ITT for a design and development partner issued | Week commencing 15 December 2025 |
| ITT closes | 14 January 2026 (23:59) |
| ITT scoring and evaluation | 15–16 January 2026 |
| EUS Group Board decision | 28 January 2026 |
These dates are indicative and may be subject to change.
6. How to Engage
Interested organisations are invited to submit an expression of interest to signal awareness of the forthcoming opportunity and to share any early reflections they wish to provide ahead of formal procurement.
Please include:
- Organisation name and contact details
- Overview of relevant experience and technical capability
- Examples of relevant or comparable large-scale digital platforms delivered
- Any brief reflections on considerations for a sector-level system
Email: contracts@euskills.co.uk
Subject line: EUS Platform – Early Engagement Response
Early engagement responses should be submitted to contracts@euskills.co.uk no later than 15 December 2025.
7. Disclaimer
This notice is issued on a voluntary basis for information and engagement purposes only.
Energy and Utility Skills Group is not a contracting authority under the Procurement Act 2023, and this process is not subject to the Act or its procedures. Participation in this engagement does not confer any rights or obligations under the Act, nor does it guarantee inclusion in any future procurement.
EUSG reserves the right to amend or not proceed with any subsequent procurement activity arising from this notice.
Participation in this engagement will not influence the outcome of any future procurement.
