Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Jul 2026, 15:22 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Delivery Partner for Development of Fifth Street as part of the Durham County Council Horden Master Plan

Authority: Durham County Council (Local council)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term Ends 18 Aug 2026starts 17 Aug 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Preliminary Market Engagement (PME)

Delivery Partner for Development of Fifth Street as part of the Durham County Council Horden Master Plan

Durham County Council are inviting suppliers to participate in this Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) to gain insight from the market with the purpose of making any potential future exercise, well framed, feasible, focused and of likely interest to the market in the context of the delivery of the Fifth Street development of the Horden Masterplan. This PME will shape the council's approach to securing delivery partner(s) to deliver upon the aims and objectives of the masterplan.

The Council is aware in order to deliver the full scope of the masterplan and transform the area of Horden that involvement from a delivery partner will be required in order to maximise the delivery potential of the various sites within the masterplan phases. However, this PME is specifically focused on the development of Fifth Street, Horden which is part of Phase 1 of the Horden Masterplan.

Further information can be found in the PME documents to be downloaded from www.open-org.uk ↗ and insert reference Open 20261579

CPV: Financial and insurance services · Research and development services and related consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Durham County Council buys Financial and insurance services (CPV 66), and who usually turns up

Durham County 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: Financial and insurance services (CPV 66) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerDurham County 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: 134 of 238 known-size awards · market: division 66 · UK-wide, n=1,422
56%12%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 244 of 398 known-location awards · market: division 66 · UK-wide, n=1,053
61%41%

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: 22 decided notices · market: division 66 · UK-wide, n=181
27 days48 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 27 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 176 of 279 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 66 · UK-wide, n=1,305
63%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 buyer49 lots with bid counts · all categories
18% had one bid
The market902 lots with bid counts · division 66 · UK-wide
26% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid18% / 26%
Buyer: 9 of 49 lots with published bid counts. Market: 236 of 902 lots with published bid counts.
2–320% / 44%
Buyer: 10 of 49 lots with published bid counts. Market: 393 of 902 lots with published bid counts.
4–631% / 27%
Buyer: 15 of 49 lots with published bid counts. Market: 243 of 902 lots with published bid counts.
7+31% / 3%
Buyer: 15 of 49 lots with published bid counts. Market: 30 of 902 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 buyer31 lots with estimate and award · all categories
29% below estimate
The market366 lots with estimate and award · division 66 · UK-wide
40% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate29% / 40%
Buyer: 9 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 148 of 366 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%55% / 40%
Buyer: 17 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 146 of 366 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16% / 20%
Buyer: 5 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 72 of 366 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 66SME suitableNo real estimate

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 66. The comparison uses that group.

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 902 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet26% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 902 similar lots
1 bid26%
236 of 902 similar past lots received 1 bid (26%).
2–344%
393 of 902 similar past lots received 2–3 (44%).
4–627%
243 of 902 similar past lots received 4–6 (27%).
7+3%
30 of 902 similar past lots received 7+ (3%).
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.

—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
Services
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 Jul 2026, 15:22 BST
Last source update
9 Jul 2026, 15:22 BST
Authority reference
Open 20261579
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-064820
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Financial and insurance servicesResearch and development services and related consultancy services
Delivery area
North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)East of England (UKH)London (UKI)South East (UKJ)
+1 moreSouth West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c7c5 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Jul 2026 → 17 Aug 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published112 days ago
    9 Jul 2026, 15:22 BST
  2. Contract starts73 days ago
    17 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST
  3. Market engagement72 days ago
    17 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST

    The documents can be downloaded from www.open-uk.org ↗ reference OPEN 20261579

    This PME is not an invitation for formal expressions of interest or an invitation to bid. It is for information only and will not be used to unfairly advantage any participating supplier. The exercise focuses on the market, rather than on the merits of individual suppliers. It involves no element of supplier selection or bid evaluation. The information gathered will be used to clarify the councils' requirements, assess the markets capacity and develop a suitable procurement strategy.

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Jul 2026, 15:22 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

Durham County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PMPB-8772-VYWM Corten House, Dunholme Close, Durham, North East, DH1 5WBContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure