Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Jun 2026, 12:50 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Appointment of Integrated Consultant Team for provision of new build for Longstone School, Dundonald

Authority: The Education Authority (Central government)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Architecture & Engineering (71) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£2,500,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 17 Jul 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 10 yrsends 18 Jan 2037 · starts 18 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The aim of this project is to Appointment a Project Manager led Integrated Consultant Team for the provision of a

new build for Longstone School, Dundonald. The EA is seeking the procurement of an ICT on a Traditional Design basis, to take the project through RIBA Stages 0-7, with options to be investigated for both Traditional and Modern Methods of Construction for on-site delivery. This will involve full professional design and management services for the project on the proposed site (options to be reviewed), complete with all site and landscape works, including hard and soft play areas and future reconfiguration, extension or expansion capabilities. This may be subject to change during brief development.

CPV: Architectural and related services · Architectural design services · Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services · Construction project management services · Engineering design services for mechanical and electrical installations for buildings · Quantity surveying services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How the Education Authority buys Architectural design services (CPV 7122), and who usually turns up

the Education Authority’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Architectural design services (CPV 7122) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerthe Education Authority · division 71
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 15 of 15 known-size awards · market: CPV 7122 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=5
100%60%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 6 of 6 known-location awards · market: CPV 7122 · UK-wide, n=102
100%71%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7122 · UK-wide, n=22
—73 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 73 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 0 of 15 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7122 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=9
0%22%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer17 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 71
0% had one bid
The market7 lots with bid counts · CPV 7122 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region)
29% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 29%
Buyer: 0 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
2–312% / 0%
Buyer: 2 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
4–66% / 57%
Buyer: 1 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
7+82% / 14%
Buyer: 14 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer15 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 71
80% below estimate
The market6 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7122 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region)
50% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate80% / 50%
Buyer: 12 of 15 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%20% / 33%
Buyer: 3 of 15 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 17%
Buyer: 0 of 15 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 71120 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£2.5m

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 71. The comparison uses that group.

Expected competition
i

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 92 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet21% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 92 similar lots
1 bid21%
19 of 92 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–322%
20 of 92 similar past lots received 2–3 (22%).
4–634%
31 of 92 similar past lots received 4–6 (34%).
7+24%
22 of 92 similar past lots received 7+ (24%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £2.5m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
Below threshold
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
5 Jun 2026, 12:50 BST
Last source update
5 Jun 2026, 12:50 BST
Authority reference
MA26-0000M402
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-053308
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Architectural and related servicesArchitectural design servicesArchitectural, construction, engineering and inspection servicesConstruction project management servicesEngineering design services for mechanical and electrical installations for buildingsQuantity surveying services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06aea8 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

5 Jun 2026 → 18 Jan 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published140 days ago
    5 Jun 2026, 12:50 BST
  2. Market engagement125 days ago
    19 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST

    The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI), in preparation for the procurement

    process for the Appointment of Integrated Consultant Team for Longstone School, Dundonald have prepared a Pre-Market Engagement Briefing Document to provide suppliers with pre-tender information regarding the forthcoming project. This document may be downloaded from the CfT documents section of CfT CA Unique ID EANI-5319 via

    eTendersNI.

    Suppliers, as part of the Pre-Market Engagement process, also have the opportunity to submit queries regarding the project. This should be done via the messaging service in the above CfT on eTendersNI no later than 5pm on Friday 19th June. A response to these queries shall be forwarded shortly after this date.

    Please note that participation or non-participation in this Pre-Market Engagement shall not

    prevent any supplier from participating in any potential procurement process. In addition,

    for the avoidance of doubt, this stage of the process is not part of a formal procurement

    process.

  3. Tender notice expected97 days ago
    17 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    23 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 87 days
    18 Jan 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Jun 2026, 12:50 BST
    UK2

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

the Education Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PPHJ-6982-JPXY 40 Academy Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 2NQContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure