Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 1 Sept 2026, 14:45 BST

Official UK procurement notice

CBC-2132-RFI-EM Lone Worker Devices

Authority: Central Bedfordshire Council (Local council)

ServicesLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 30 Oct 2030 · starts 30 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Council will provide as much support and information as it can to help guide you through the RFI process. Questions asked together with the response, will be made available to all tenderers, to ensure a fair and consistent approach to all.

If there is anything you are not sure about or need clarification on, please use the Correspondence facility within the In-tend electronic tendering system. Last date for receiving questions on the In-Tend system: 17th September at 12pm

Completed RFI's and attachments should be submitted electronically by the due date via our In-tend electronic tendering system. Relevant documents must be uploaded via the My Return section of the system. Returns submitted through the correspondence facility will not be considered. Your return must be submitted via the In-tend system by no later than 18th September at 12pm

Submissions received after that time will be excluded.

CPV: Alarm systems · Alarm-monitoring services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 30 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2030 (4 yrs)
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Central Bedfordshire Council buys Surveillance and security systems and devices (CPV 3512), and who usually turns up

Central Bedfordshire 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: Surveillance and security systems and devices (CPV 3512) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCentral Bedfordshire Council · 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: 35 of 49 known-size awards · market: CPV 3512 · East of England (authority’s region), n=11
71%73%

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 registered in East of England (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 20 of 32 known-location awards · market: CPV 3512 · East of England (authority’s region), n=20
63%30%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in East of 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: 25 decided notices · market: CPV 3512 · UK-wide, n=19
61 days34 days

Half of these awards were announced within 61 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 27 of 74 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3512 · East of England (authority’s region), n=25
36%40%

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 buyer32 lots with bid counts · all categories
13% had one bid
The market28 lots with bid counts · CPV 3512 · UK-wide
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 14%
Buyer: 4 of 32 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
2–328% / 43%
Buyer: 9 of 32 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
4–631% / 21%
Buyer: 10 of 32 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
7+28% / 21%
Buyer: 9 of 32 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 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 buyer20 lots with estimate and award · all categories
30% below estimate
The market19 lots with estimate and award · CPV 3512 · UK-wide
42% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate30% / 42%
Buyer: 6 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%50% / 42%
Buyer: 10 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 16%
Buyer: 4 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 19 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 351248 monthsSME suitableEstimate 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 11 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet18% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 11 similar lots
1 bid18%
2 of 11 similar past lots received 1 bid (18%).
2–318%
2 of 11 similar past lots received 2–3 (18%).
4–636%
4 of 11 similar past lots received 4–6 (36%).
7+27%
3 of 11 similar past lots received 7+ (27%).
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.

—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
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Light touch regime
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
1 Sept 2026, 14:45 BST
Last source update
10 Sept 2026, 16:47 BST
Authority reference
CBC-2132-RFI-EM
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-086119
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Alarm systemsAlarm-monitoring services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06efac Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

1 Sept 2026 → 30 Oct 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published51 days ago
    1 Sept 2026, 14:45 BST
  2. Latest notice published42 days ago
    10 Sept 2026, 16:47 BST
  3. Market engagement33 days ago
    18 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    We would like to undertake soft market testing to benchmark current market pricing and assess the options available for lone worker protection solutions. The service is used to support employees who work alone in the field and may be exposed to personal safety risks

  4. Tender notice expected20 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Today
    22 Oct 2026
  6. Contract startsin 8 days
    30 Oct 2026

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 1 Sept 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    1 Sept 2026, 14:45 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    10 Sept 2026, 16:47 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

Central Bedfordshire Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PVNH-1137-QJBX Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, East of England, SG17 5TQContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure