Procurement Notice

On 13 August 2024, The Crown Estate announced that the second phase of the Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5 process in the Celtic Sea, known as Invitation to Tender Stage 1 (ITT1), was now underway. Round 5 is focused on floating offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea off the coasts of South Wales and South West England, with up to 4.5 GW of capacity available across three fixed-boundary Project Development Areas. ITT1 represents the formal tendering phase following earlier information and qualification steps, and is the mechanism through which eligible bidders can submit more detailed proposals for seabed leasing opportunities. This milestone follows a structured sequence of preparatory actions by The Crown Estate. In December 2023, it published an Information Memorandum outlining the Round 5 opportunity, and in January 2024 it held a Bidders Day event in Swansea to brief prospective participants on the tender and answer questions. On 28 February 2024, a Concession Notice was issued on the UK Government’s Find a Tender portal, formally launching the Round 5 tender process. By 6 June 2024, The Crown Estate was reviewing responses to a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and indicated that bidders would be informed of the PQQ outcome in early July, ahead of the planned start of ITT1 in August. The confirmation on 13 August 2024 that ITT1 was now in progress signals that Round 5 has moved from pre-qualification into active competitive tendering, a key step towards the eventual award of Celtic Sea floating wind project leases.