Official UK procurement notice
Dover Harbour Board - Provisional Harbour Towage Services
Authority: Dover Harbour Board (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Dover Harbour Board (DHB) intends to undertake preliminary market engagement in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023, to further inform its ongoing review of long-term harbour towage arrangements as identified in Find a tender notice identifier: 2025/S 000-000055 dated 3rd January 2025.
This engagement is for information-gathering purposes only and does not constitute a procurement exercise.
DHB will be seeking to hold discussions with a maximum of 5 experienced harbour towage operators under an NDA, to allow DHB to better understand current market capability and typical delivery models for a 24/7 harbour towage service.
CPV: Port and waterway operation services and associated services · Ship-launching services · Ship-operating services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Dover Harbour Board buys Support services for water transport (CPV 6372), and who usually turns up
Dover Harbour Board’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: Support services for water transport (CPV 6372) →
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.
Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South East England.
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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.
Half of these awards were announced within 166 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.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
How many bids did past lots attract?
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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 bid14%
2–386%
4–60%
7+0%
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%
Within ±2%0%
Above estimate40%
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 6372Estimate not published
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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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–353%
4–627%
7+13%
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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.
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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
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Concession
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 6 Mar 2026, 09:23 GMT
- Last source update
- 6 Mar 2026, 09:23 GMT
- Authority reference
DHB-2026-TNPSDAL- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-020197- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0663aeFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
6 Mar 2026 → 3 Sept 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published230 days ago6 Mar 2026, 09:23 GMT
- Market engagement181 days ago24 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
The Port of Dover intends to undertake preliminary market engagement under the Utilities procurement regime to inform its ongoing review of long-term harbour towage arrangements.
Supplier discussions will be held at the end of April 2026.
- Tender notice expected22 days ago30 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 315 days3 Sept 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published6 Mar 2026, 09:23 GMTUK2
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