Official UK procurement notice
Commercial Use of the Translational Research Hub (TRH) Cleanroom Facility
Authority: Cardiff University (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe University is seeking to engage with the market on an exploratory basis only to consider potential approaches, capabilities, and appetite relating to the operation and commercial use of a specialist cleanroom facility located within the University’s Translational Research Hub (TRH). This is to support the acceleration of the Authority’s mission for innovation and regional economic growth across the Cardiff Capital Region.
The University owns and operates a specialist compound semiconductor cleanroom facility located within the Translational Research Hub (TRH) at Cardiff University. The TRH is a research‑intensive environment for academic researchers and industry partners. It supports the University’s activity aligned to the Institute for Compound Semiconductors, the School of Physics and the School of Engineering.
The facility comprises a purpose‑built c.1500m² compound semiconductor cleanroom, supporting the fabrication and processing of compound semiconductor wafers up to 200mm (8‑inch) diameter. The cleanroom provides the capability to trial, establish, and scale compound semiconductor devices to an industrial standard, supported by advanced, industry‑standard processing and characterisation capabilities. Dedicated characterisation and back‑end processing areas enable end‑to‑end wafer processing.
The University is considering options for further commercial utilisation of the facility while ensuring that appropriate access for academic and research purposes is maintained. As part of this review, the Authority wishes to engage openly and transparently with the market to consider operating, access, and partnership models that could support these objectives.
The University is seeking expressions of interest from organisations with relevant experience in operating or managing specialist cleanroom, laboratory, or semiconductor fabrication facilities.
Through this premarket engagement, the University is seeking market feedback on potential commercial and operational models.
No preferred commercial or other operating model has been selected at this stage.
Organisations responding to this notice will be invited to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) Response Document, receive further technical information, participate in individual meetings or site visits, and provide feedback on potential commercial models.
Engagement will be conducted on a non-competitive and non-discriminatory basis. Participation will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement.
The outcome of this pre-market engagement will inform the University’s decision on whether a procurement is required and the appropriate route to market, if any.
The University reserves the right to take no further action, proceed to a competitive procurement, or consider other compliant routes in line with the Procurement Act 2023.
Interested organisations are invited to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) Response Document as confirmation of interest in participating in discussions. Suppliers must complete and return the forms via the correspondence function on the Universities e-tender portal In-Tend:
in-tendhost.co.uk/cardiffuniversity/ ↗
Responses should be submitted by the deadline Friday, 5th June 2026 at 17.00
CPV: Laboratory services · Research and development services and related consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Cardiff University buys Laboratory services (CPV 7190), and who usually turns up
Cardiff University’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: Laboratory services (CPV 7190) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 38 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid17% / 37%
2–367% / 39%
4–617% / 21%
7+0% / 3%
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.
Below estimate60% / 61%
Within ±2%0% / 26%
Above estimate40% / 13%
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.
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 7190Published estimate£5.0m
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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 103 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid14%
2–321%
4–629%
7+36%
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.
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.
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.
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
- 8 May 2026, 12:08 BST
- Last source update
- 8 May 2026, 12:08 BST
- Authority reference
CU.2182.JJ- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-042445- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069485Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
8 May 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published170 days ago8 May 2026, 12:08 BST
- Market engagement141 days ago5 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
Organisations responding to this notice will be invited to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) Response Document, receive further technical information, participate in individual meetings or site visits, and provide feedback on potential commercial models.
Engagement will be conducted on a non-competitive and non-discriminatory basis. Participation will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement.
The outcome of this pre-market engagement will inform the University’s decision on whether a procurement is required and the appropriate route to market, if any.
The University reserves the right to take no further action, proceed to a competitive procurement, or consider other compliant routes in line with the Procurement Act 2023.
Interested organisations are invited to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) Response Document as confirmation of interest in participating in discussions. Suppliers must complete and return the forms via the correspondence function on the Universities e-tender portal In-Tend:
in-tendhost.co.uk/cardiffuniversity/ ↗
Responses should be submitted by the deadline Friday, 5th June 2026 at 17.00
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 9 days2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 99 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 May 2026, 12:08 BSTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender