Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Apr 2026, 11:00 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Autotitrator · UK public procurement notice

Authority: NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED

GoodsBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 May 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 30 Jun 2027 · up to 30 Jun 2028 with extensions · starts 1 Jul 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The United Kingdom National Nuclear Lab (UKNNL) requires the provision of an Autotitrator. To ensure a comprehensive view on the current situation, we are issuing the attached Early Engagement RFI to receive input from the supply market. Early Engagement RFI Submission Deadline = 22/04/2025 (complete and return Early Engagement RFI Autotitrator. This exercise is a request for information, it does not constitute a formal procurement process. The purpose of this exercise is to assess the interest and capabilities within current markets to deliver this service. UKNNL may choose to contact suppliers based on the information provided in this questionnaire. If you prefer not to be contacted, please clearly indicate this preference in your questionnaire response. UKNNL assure you that any information provided during this exercise will not adversely affect the evaluation of any offers you may submit in response to any future Invitations to Tender. Background: UKNNL are looking to expand their analytical capabilities in the area of automated titration. This new capability will be housed in a new facility which is currently in the design phase. Scope: The requirements for the system have been provisionally assessed and this RFI has been produced to assess the feasibility of the market being able to provide equipment as either a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) or Modified Off The Shelf (MOTS) solution which can be operated/maintained/replaced within the confines of the proposed facility. The proposed facility is a suite of alpha-active total engineered containment boxes (gloveboxes). The equipment will be placed in one of these. It will have an inert atmosphere and operate at ambient temperature (15-23 °C). Once commissioned the only routine access to the equipment will be through a circular 12” port. Interaction with the equipment will be through fixed position ambidextrous gloves (see Figure 1 for an indicative image of the facility).

CPV: Detection and analysis apparatus

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 1 yrSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Jul 2026 – 30 Jun 2027 (1 yr) · up to 30 Jun 2028 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED buys Detection and analysis apparatus (CPV 3843), and who usually turns up

NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED’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: Detection and analysis apparatus (CPV 3843) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED · division 38
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: 5 of 7 known-size awards · market: no supplier sizes published
71%—

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 8 known-location awards · market: no winner locations published
0%—

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside the delivery region.

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: 3 decided notices · market: no decision dates published
41 days—

Half of these awards were announced within 41 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 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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 6 of 13 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: no bid counts or routes published
46%—

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 buyer6 lots with bid counts · all categories
17% had one bid
The marketNo bid counts published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
1 bid17%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
2–367%
Buyer: 4 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
4–617%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
7+0%
Buyer: 0 of 6 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 buyer1 lot with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The marketNo estimate-and-award pairs published
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 384312 monthsSME suitableNo real estimate
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 71 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet31% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 71 similar lots
1 bid31%
22 of 71 similar past lots received 1 bid (31%).
2–346%
33 of 71 similar past lots received 2–3 (46%).
4–620%
14 of 71 similar past lots received 4–6 (20%).
7+3%
2 of 71 similar past lots received 7+ (3%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 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 real estimate
The buyer published £0 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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
Goods
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
9 Apr 2026, 11:00 BST
Last source update
9 Apr 2026, 11:00 BST
Authority reference
NNLC775
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-032236
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Detection and analysis apparatus
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067ea7 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Apr 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published196 days ago
    9 Apr 2026, 11:00 BST
  2. Market engagement183 days ago
    22 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  3. Tender notice expected174 days ago
    1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts114 days ago
    1 Jul 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Apr 2026, 11:00 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

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PVXT-8784-YGNV Chadwick House, Birchwood Park, Warrington, North West, WA3 6AEContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure