The Environment Agency has launched a tender process to find a contractor to deliver its routine and ad-hoc beach maintenance works across all of its coastal frontages in England.
The six-year framework has an estimated value between £469m and £1.23bn (excluding VAT), and will have the option of a further two-year extension.
The maintenance works involve transporting and redistributing large volumes of shingles, importing and placing rock on coastal frontages and responding to extreme weather events.
The framework, to be delivered between May 2026 and May 2032, will operate as a single lot with a maximum of two contractors appointed.
The Environment Agency said that respondents to a market engagement last year agreed that an eight-year framework would encourage greater market commitment to invest in specialist vessels, equipment and staff.
The deadline for companies to submit bids through the DEFRA procurement portal is 19 September.
