Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Nov 2025, 10:16 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Call for Sponsorship - Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2026

Authority: Belfast City Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£1pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 9 moends 9 Aug 2026 · starts 6 Nov 2025

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the world’s biggest celebration of Irish music and culture, is coming to Belfast for the first time from Sunday 2 to Sunday 9 August 2026. Over 700,000 people are expected to attend this momentous event in Belfast. With extensive media coverage across TV, radio, print, and digital, this is a unique opportunity to connect your brand with community, culture, tourism and a positive legacy for Belfast.

Your support will help fund:

  • free public performances
  • music education
  • accessibility and inclusivity initiatives
  • local economic growth

CPV: Advertising services · Recreational, cultural and sporting services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Belfast City Council buys Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934), and who usually turns up

Belfast City Council’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: Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerBelfast City Council · division 79
The marketAdvertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) · Northern Ireland
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: 8 of 11 known-size awards · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=19
73%89%

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. The market figure counts awards delivered in Northern Ireland.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 13 of 14 known-location awards · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=19
93%95%

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: 8 decided notices · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=16
73 days41 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.

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 7 of 10 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=23
70%17%

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 buyer15 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 79
67% had one bid
The market28 lots with bid counts · CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland
21% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid67% / 21%
Buyer: 10 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
2–313% / 14%
Buyer: 2 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
4–620% / 46%
Buyer: 3 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 18%
Buyer: 0 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 28 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 buyer8 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 79
0% below estimate
The market21 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland
10% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate0% / 10%
Buyer: 0 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%75% / 76%
Buyer: 6 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 16 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate25% / 14%
Buyer: 2 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 21 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 79349 monthsNo 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 28 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet21% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 28 similar lots
1 bid21%
6 of 28 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–314%
4 of 28 similar past lots received 2–3 (14%).
4–646%
13 of 28 similar past lots received 4–6 (46%).
7+18%
5 of 28 similar past lots received 7+ (18%).
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 real estimate
The buyer published £1 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
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
5 Nov 2025, 10:16 GMT
Last source update
5 Nov 2025, 10:16 GMT
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-071134
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Advertising servicesRecreational, cultural and sporting services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN06)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05daa2 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

5 Nov 2025 → 9 Aug 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published357 days ago
    5 Nov 2025, 10:16 GMT
  2. Contract starts356 days ago
    6 Nov 2025
  3. Market engagement79 days ago
    9 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST

    We are now welcoming expressions of interest from potential sponsors who would like to be part of this landmark event. With hundreds of events, dozens of venues and multiple touchpoints, there are many ways for brands to be seen and support the Belfast Fleadh.

    A range of tailored sponsorship opportunities are available. If you are interested in exploring partnership or sponsorship opportunities, please email [email protected] using ‘Fleadh sponsorship’ in your subject line.

    Please note that, since this is neither a call for competition nor a procurement, it has been assigned a nominal monetary value of £1.

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Nov 2025, 10:16 GMT
    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

Belfast City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PQXY-5321-CGZM 9-21 Adelaide Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT2 8DJContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure