The Environment Agency has launched a major procurement programme known as the Collaborative Delivery Framework 2 (CDF2), with an estimated total value of £6.6 billion including VAT, to deliver engineering and environmental asset works across England over the next ten years. The framework is designed to support a wide range of infrastructure and environmental management needs, making it one of the agency’s most significant long-term procurement exercises.
CDF2 will cover a broad spectrum of asset management activities, including flood and coastal risk management, navigation, water, land and biodiversity. Through this framework, the Environment Agency aims to secure services for appraisal, design, technical support and construction, helping to deliver its maintenance, refurbishment and new construction programmes across England.
The framework will support both nature-based solutions and more traditional hard engineering projects, reflecting a balanced approach to environmental resilience and infrastructure development. This means future work could range from habitat restoration and natural flood management measures to large-scale engineered flood defence and water management schemes. Individual contracts awarded under the framework could be worth as much as £150 million.
The procurement is structured into three main lots, each divided into geographic sub-lots aligned with three regional hubs: North; Midlands and South West; and East and South East. Lot 1 focuses on strategy, appraisal and design services, with each sub-lot valued between approximately £163 million and £179 million excluding VAT. Lot 2 covers detailed design and construction for smaller design-and-build projects, typically under £5 million, with sub-lot values ranging from roughly £131 million to £286 million excluding VAT. Lot 3 is the largest and covers detailed design services and construction for projects generally valued between £5 million and £150 million, with sub-lot values exceeding £1.2 billion and reaching nearly £1.4 billion excluding VAT.
Altogether, the total estimated value of the framework stands at around £5.5 billion excluding VAT, which rises to £6.6 billion including VAT. The tender notice states that up to 16 suppliers may be selected to join the framework, indicating a competitive but limited supplier pool for what will likely be a major source of public sector engineering and environmental work over the coming years.
The CDF2 framework is scheduled to run from 18 February 2027 until 19 February 2035, giving it an eight-year operational lifespan within the broader ten-year planning horizon. The procurement is being carried out under the Competitive Flexible Procedure, beginning with a Conditions of Participation stage that opened on 16 March 2026. Interested organisations must submit their requests to participate by 10:00 am on 27 April 2026.
A notable feature of the framework is that any successful bidder appointed to a sub-lot will also automatically be included in a National Pool sub-lot for that particular lot. According to the Environment Agency, the tender documents provide additional details on how this National Pool will function. This arrangement could give suppliers access to a wider range of opportunities beyond their initial regional or lot-based appointments.
The Environment Agency has also indicated that the framework may be used not only for its own projects but also by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and associated public bodies in England, including non-departmental public bodies. This expands the potential scope of the framework considerably, meaning that CDF2 could support a much broader portfolio of environmental, water and land-related projects across the public sector.
Overall, the launch of CDF2 highlights continued government focus on flood risk management, climate resilience and the maintenance of critical environmental infrastructure. The inclusion of both nature-based solutions and traditional engineering approaches signals a growing shift toward more integrated, sustainable methods of delivering resilience, while the framework’s scale underlines the increasing urgency of protecting water, land and coastal assets in the face of climate change.
