Official UK procurement notice
02_26-AST External Audit Service
Authority: AVANTI SCHOOLS TRUST (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionAvanti Schools Trust (the Trust) invites offers from suitably qualified audit firms for the provision of external audit, regularity assurance and related statutory reporting services. The Trust is a successful multi-academy trust with 12 schools across London, Leicester and other locations outside London. It is a company limited by guarantee, an exempt charity and is accountable to the Department for Education (DfE) through its funding agreement.
The Trust requires an audit provider with deep academy sector expertise, strong technical audit quality, robust independence arrangements and a practical understanding of the financial, regulatory and governance environment in which multi-academy trusts operate.
The procurement will be conducted as a competitive tendering procedure using the open procedure under the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024. Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to the tender notice and associated procurement documents, subject to the conditions of participation and other requirements stated in those documents.
The Trust expects bidders to comply with the Procurement Act 2023, the Procurement Regulations 2024, the published procurement documents, applicable audit legislation, Companies Act requirements, Charity SORP, Financial Reporting Standard 102, the Academies Accounts Direction, the Academy Trust Handbook 2026 and relevant Financial Reporting Council standards.
CPV: Accounting, auditing and fiscal services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewalPublished value£290,000
- Economic & financial standing
As per standard questions
- Technical & professional ability
Require provider with deep academy sector expertise, strong technical audit quality, robust independence arrangements and a practical understanding of the financial, regulatory and governance environment in which multi-academy trusts operate
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (1)
- Award Criteria: 100%
Published award criteria (1)
- Award Criteria: Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender. Evaluation will be based on: Quality: • Academy sector and team experience • Trust accounts, audit and regularity • Team and resourcing • Subsidiaries and tax • Quality and independence 60% Quality and 40% Price will used for ranking and direct award
- Economic & financial standing
As per standard questions
- Technical & professional ability
Require provider with deep academy sector expertise, strong technical audit quality, robust independence arrangements and a practical understanding of the financial, regulatory and governance environment in which multi-academy trusts operate
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
Competition for Accounting, auditing and fiscal services (CPV 7920), and who usually turns up
AVANTI SCHOOLS TRUST has too little published record in this market to describe on its own. Published market evidence for the same work stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Accounting, auditing and fiscal services (CPV 7920) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Greater London.
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How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 56 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid27%
2–336%
4–627%
7+9%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate43%
Within ±2%57%
Above estimate0%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 7920Published estimate£290k
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How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 225 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid10%
2–320%
4–636%
7+33%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
No supplier with a record in this category fits this lot yet.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the match score are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 19 Oct 2026, 17:52 BST
- Last source update
- 19 Oct 2026, 17:52 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 5 Mar 2027
- Authority reference
AST-AUDIT-2026-135- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-098703- Latest notice
- Planned procurement notice (UK3)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078b42Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 11 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 27 Nov 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
19 Oct 2026 → 5 Apr 2027 · 6 dates- Planning notice publishedearlier today19 Oct 2026, 17:52 BST
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 1 day20 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions byin 38 days27 Nov 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 52 days11 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 137 days5 Mar 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 167 days5 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Planned procurement notice published19 Oct 2026, 17:52 BSTUK3
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender