Official UK procurement notice
Appointment of a Multi-Disciplinary Consultancy Team for Cemetery Provision Project
Authority: Ards and North Down Borough Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionArds and North Down Borough Council has a statutory responsibility to provide sufficient burial provision to meet the present and future needs of the Borough. The Council is progressing a Cemetery Provision project to secure long-term burial capacity through the extension of an existing provision, and the development of a new cemetery site capable of serving the Borough’s needs for the next 30+ years.
Council is progressing the acquisition of a new cemetery site of approximately 24 acres. This site will need to be developed from RIBA Stage 0.
The Cemetery Provision project also includes an extension to an existing Council cemetery of 0.95 hectares, for which planning approval is currently being sought. The ICT may be required to provide detailed design input for this site and support the development of any future extension proposals arising during the appointment.
The scope of the ICT is not finalised at this stage and is subject to change at the Council’s discretion.
Anticipated Project Deliverables
For the new site;
- RIBA Stages 0-7 including;
- Planning approval and statutory consents for the proposed new cemetery development.
- Design and development of a new cemetery facility to meet the Borough's future burial needs for the next 30+ years.
- Construction and commissioning of a fully operational cemetery, including associated infrastructure and facilities.
- Operational handover of the completed facility to the Council.
For the existing site;
- Detailed design input into extension of an existing cemetery site.
- Potential design and development of future extension of an existing cemetery site.
The purpose of this preliminary market engagement is to seek feedback and insights from experienced suppliers to help shape the scope for the appointment of a multi-disciplinary Consultancy Team.
CPV: Cemetery services · Design consultancy services · Project management consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Ards and North Down Borough Council buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up
Ards and North Down Borough Council’s own published record, 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: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →
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.
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.
Here, local means registered in Northern Ireland.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.
i
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 84 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.
Both shares are minimums: 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?
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 bid36% / 0%
2–337% / 60%
4–620% / 20%
7+7% / 20%
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 estimate50% / 17%
Within ±2%37% / 67%
Above estimate13% / 17%
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 7222Published estimate£800k
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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 54 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid28%
2–337%
4–620%
7+15%
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.
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
- 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
- 16 Oct 2026, 13:57 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Oct 2026, 13:57 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097981- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078996Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
16 Oct 2026 → 1 May 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published5 days ago16 Oct 2026, 13:57 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 16 days6 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
The Council's intention is to commence a competitive tender process under the Procurement Act 2023 through eTendersNI. Interested suppliers will not be advantaged or prejudiced by participation or non-participation in the pre-market engagement. Participation or non-participation in this PME exercise will not prevent any supplier from participating in any future procurement process. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of a formal procurement process. In accordance with section 82 of the Procurement Act 2023, the Council will take all reasonable steps to ensure that no conflict of interest puts any supplier at an unfair advantage or disadvantage in relation to this procurement. To ensure a level playing field for all parties and without breaching commercial confidentiality, all relevant information shared or gathered during this engagement will be made available to all potential suppliers as part of the forthcoming competitive tender process. This market engagement process does not commit the Council to any course of action and is not a formal part of the tender process that will follow.
Suppliers who wish to participate in the market engagement exercise should complete the PME questionnaire which can be downloaded from the CfT documents area of Resource ID 6790076 on eTendersNI (etendersni.gov.uk ↗). The questionnaire must be completed and returned via the CfT's Messaging area on eTendersNI in accordance with the instructions detailed in the PME Questionnaire document. There are no formal tender documents to be completed other than the questionnaire. **Please Note: All completed questionnaires must be submitted via the CfT's (Resource ID 6790076) messaging area on eTendersNI (etendersni.gov.uk)** ↗
- Contract startsin 191 days1 May 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 Oct 2026, 13:57 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