Official UK procurement notice
Aberdeen Destination Marketing and Development Service
Authority: Aberdeen City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionAberdeen City Council is seeking market engagement to inform the potential procurement of a city-focused Aberdeen Destination Marketing and Development Service, funded through the Aberdeen Visitor Levy, which is due to apply from 1 April 2027.
The proposed service would support Aberdeen’s position as a leading visitor destination by delivering destination marketing, city promotion, market intelligence, business engagement, product development and visitor economy development activity. It would seek to increase awareness of Aberdeen, grow visitor numbers and length of stay, support accommodation demand, amplify the city’s cultural, events, heritage, hospitality, leisure and business tourism offer, and contribute to the city’s wider economic transition.
The service is expected to focus on Aberdeen city while recognising that the wider regional offer — including landscapes, coastline, castles, golf, food and drink, outdoor activity and touring itineraries — forms an important part of the destination proposition. The Council is also interested in how the service should interface with convention bureau and business events activity where this supports additional visitors, bed nights and economic value for the city.
This Prior Information Notice is for market engagement only. It is not a call for competition and does not commit the Council to a procurement, contract award or any particular delivery model.
CPV: Administrative services related to tourism affairs · Advertising and marketing services · Business development consultancy services · Fair and exhibition organisation services · Marketing management consultancy services · Marketing services · Seminar organisation services · Tourist information services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Aberdeen City Council is considering the procurement of an Aberdeen Destination…Planned
Aberdeen City Council is considering the procurement of an Aberdeen Destination Marketing and Development Service to support the objectives of the Aberdeen Visitor Levy and the sustainable growth of the city’s visitor economy.
The service is expected to be delivered as a city-focused programme for Aberdeen. Its purpose will be to promote Aberdeen as a distinctive destination for leisure and business visitors, encourage people to visit, stay longer and spend more, and support the development of a strong visitor offer across the city’s venues, events, festivals, culture, attractions, hospitality and tourism businesses.
The anticipated scope may include destination marketing and communications, city promotion, business engagement, visitor economy development, product and itinerary development, travel trade support, market intelligence, performance evaluation and reporting. Where included within the final scope, the service may also interface with convention bureau and business events activity where this supports additional visitors, accommodation bed nights and economic value for Aberdeen.
The service will be expected to complement, rather than duplicate, wider regional destination activity, while maintaining a clear focus on improving Aberdeen’s position as a visitor destination. It will also be expected to support transparent public reporting on the use and impact of Visitor Levy proceeds, including evidence of outputs, outcomes and performance against agreed indicators.
This notice is intended to inform market engagement and procurement planning. Any future procurement will be subject to Council approvals, final service specification, available budget and the applicable procurement process.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Aberdeen City Council runs Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) tenders for its clients, and who usually turns up
Aberdeen City Council procures on behalf of other bodies; its record below covers every client it has tendered for, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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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 registered in Scotland.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Scotland.
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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 46 days of the bid deadline.
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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.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
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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 bid17% / 7%
2–353% / 17%
4–620% / 20%
7+10% / 57%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate71% / 14%
Within ±2%0% / 64%
Above estimate29% / 21%
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.
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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 #1Aberdeen City Council is considering the procurement of an Aberdeen Destination…CPV 7934Published estimate£900k
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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 30 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–317%
4–620%
7+57%
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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.
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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.
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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.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
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 earlier-work matches 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 · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 20 Jul 2026, 09:46 BST
- Last source update
- 20 Jul 2026, 09:46 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-068074- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ce78Find a Tender
Publisher note: Interested parties are asked to complete the market engagement Submission Form and return to [email protected] by the deadline stated in the submission form NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=837836. (SC Ref:837836)
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
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Timeline
20 Jul 2026 → 10 Nov 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published92 days ago20 Jul 2026, 09:46 BST
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 21 days10 Nov 2026
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
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.