Official UK procurement notice
AF186 Supply of Laboratory Equipment to MLW
Authority: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement description.The purpose of the project is to procure laboratory equipment to sites in Malawi. Suppliers may bid for one, some or all of the equipment listed. Preferred manufacturers and models have been provided as a guide to the required specification however equivalent or superior alternatives that meet the minimum requirements will be considered. Where possible suppliers should provide pricing for direct delivery to Malawi. If direct delivery is not available, suppliers should clearly state the delivery term offered.
Suppliers may submit bids for one, some or all of the packages listed within the pricing schedule. Each package will be evaluated independently against the evaluation criteria set out below. Only technically compliant bids will proceed to the commercial evaluation.
Packages will be awarded separately; however, the Authority reserves the right to award multiple packages to a single supplier where this provides better overall value, taking into account factors such as technical compatibility, shipping efficiencies and operational efficiencies.
CPV: Detection and analysis apparatus · Instruments for checking physical characteristics · Laboratory pipettes and accessories · Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine buys Detection and analysis apparatus (CPV 3843): the notice lists UK and non-UK locations
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s published record is shown without a UK market comparison because the notice lists UK and non-UK delivery areas without one confirmed UK market. Check the notice description and tender documents for the actual site. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Detection and analysis apparatus (CPV 3843) →
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.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
The notice lists UK and non-UK delivery areas, so this procedure has no confirmed single UK region; the buyer’s figure reads its other awards, each against its own delivery region.
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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 43 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 buyer’s 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 bid29%
2–318%
4–641%
7+12%
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 estimate0%
Within ±2%83%
Above estimate17%
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 #1Published estimate£812k
The notice lists UK and non-UK delivery areas for this lot. The figures below use UK market history and may not describe competition across every area.
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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. Published delivery includes UK and non-UK areas, so the UK model may not describe every area.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
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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.
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.
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- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- 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
- 17 Aug 2026, 10:32 BST
- Last source update
- 17 Aug 2026, 10:32 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-077976- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area in notice
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e54dFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
17 Aug 2026 → 30 Sept 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published66 days ago17 Aug 2026, 10:32 BST
- Tender notice expected65 days ago18 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts23 days ago30 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Aug 2026, 10:32 BSTUK2
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
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender