Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 24 Apr 2026, 09:10 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Audio Media Guide Solution

Authority: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 31 Mar 2032 · starts 31 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

**This is not a call for Competition - this is Pre-Market Engagement**

The Beatles Story (TBS) is an award-winning attraction based in the band's birthplace of Liverpool, telling the story of lives, times, and music of The Beatles as an immersive exhibition, and perpetuating the legacy of what is considered by worldwide influential music critics and fans to be the greatest band in the world.

TBS is conducting Pre-Market Engagement with suppliers to understand possible solutions for an Audio Media Guide system.

TBS kindly invite suppliers to complete the link to the PME Questionnaire.

We would like to take the opportunity in advance to thank suppliers for taking the time to assist The Beatles Story with our market engagement exercise.

CPV: Museum-exhibition services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 5 yrs
Contract period: 31 Mar 2027 – 31 Mar 2032 (5 yrs)
Delivery: North West

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Liverpool City Region Combined Authority buys Museum services and preservation services of historical sites and buildings (CPV 9252), and who usually turns up

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’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: Museum services and preservation services of historical sites and buildings (CPV 9252) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLiverpool City Region Combined Authority · all categories
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: 37 of 69 known-size awards · market: CPV 9252 · UK-wide, n=47
54%83%

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.

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 42 of 92 known-location awards · market: CPV 9252 · UK-wide, n=42
46%64%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside North West England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 11 decided notices · market: CPV 9252 · UK-wide, n=15
63 days35 days

Half of these awards were announced within 63 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.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 30 of 88 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 9252 · UK-wide, n=74
34%27%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer28 lots with bid counts · all categories
21% had one bid
The market31 lots with bid counts · CPV 9252 · UK-wide
3% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid21% / 3%
Buyer: 6 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 31 lots with published bid counts.
2–343% / 48%
Buyer: 12 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 31 lots with published bid counts.
4–621% / 39%
Buyer: 6 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 31 lots with published bid counts.
7+14% / 10%
Buyer: 4 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 31 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 buyer16 lots with estimate and award · all categories
44% below estimate
The market36 lots with estimate and award · CPV 9252 · UK-wide
53% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate44% / 53%
Buyer: 7 of 16 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 36 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%13% / 28%
Buyer: 2 of 16 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 36 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate44% / 19%
Buyer: 7 of 16 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 36 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 925260 monthsEstimate not published
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 22 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet9% single-bid risk
Past bids on 22 similar lots
1 bid9%
2 of 22 similar past lots received 1 bid (9%).
2–345%
10 of 22 similar past lots received 2–3 (45%).
4–636%
8 of 22 similar past lots received 4–6 (36%).
7+9%
2 of 22 similar past lots received 7+ (9%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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
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
24 Apr 2026, 09:10 BST
Last source update
24 Apr 2026, 09:10 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-037369
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Museum-exhibition services
Delivery area
North West (UKD7)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068a44 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

24 Apr 2026 → 31 Mar 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published179 days ago
    24 Apr 2026, 09:10 BST
  2. Market engagement165 days ago
    8 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    The Beatles Story invite suppliers to complete the Microsoft Forms Questionnaire via the link:

    forms.cloud.microsoft/e/mbhzGZjbYt ↗

    The deadline for completing the form is 08/05/2026 at 17:00hrs

    If there are any clarification Questions please submit to [email protected]

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 161 days
    31 Mar 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    24 Apr 2026, 09:10 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

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PNDZ-8253-CJJM 1 Mann Island, Liverpool, North West, L3 1BPContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure