The water company carries out around 150,000 reinstatements per year at a cost of £30m. This includes avoidable streetworks fines and penalties.

Thames said that reinstatement work remained a major challenge for the firm, but offered great opportunities to deliver operational efficiencies and best value for money.

Around 56% of reinstatements are in response to clean water repair and maintenance works, 13% due to metering, 12% customer side leakage, 8% to developer services and 2% to capital delivery projects, which is expected to increase due to a mains replacement programme.

Some 9% of reinstatements are due to the waste network and are not expected to be included in the initial term of the contract as there is a deal in place until 2020 with Cappagh Browne.

The new framework will be broken up into three regions – North and South London and the Thames Valley.

At present around 40% of reinstatement work is carried out in North London, with the lots worth around £104m, South London accounts for a third of the work at around £88m and the Thames Valley region about a quarter of total budgeted work at £67m.

Firms would be selected to work initially for three years, with the option to then extend for a further five years.

Further information is available from the procurement portal, by quoting work title: Reinstatement and reference number: FA1315