Official UK procurement notice
Dry Recycling Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: arc21 (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionarc21 is a local government waste management group based in Northern Ireland, who act as a contracting entity, procuring and managing waste contracts, on behalf of its constituent councils. The constituent councils are Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Belfast City Council, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.
In 2019, arc21 awarded contracts for the receipt, transfer, processing and brokerage of dry recyclable materials. In 2025/26 circa 44,000 tonnes of dry dry recyclable materials were accepted through these contracts. The current contracts are due to expire at the end of September 2026 and the purpose of conducting this preliminary market engagement is to obtain the views of potential private sector partners on the key issues involved in procuring replacement services for the acceptance, processing (if applicable) and marketing of dry recyclable waste arisings once the current contracts expire. There is the possibility that these replacement contracts may include new core target materials. The dates relating to the contract and extension periods contained within this notice are not fixed and the ultimate contract and extension dates will be informed by this market engagement exercise.
The engagement is intended to help shape arc21's requirements and procurement strategy.
Please note that the market engagement exercise will not seek views on how the waste is collected as this decision falls outside arc21’s remit and rests with each council. It is anticipated that those collection arrangements will continue to vary both between, and on occasions within, council areas.
CPV: Refuse and waste related services · Refuse collection services · Refuse disposal and treatment · Refuse recycling services · Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How arc21 buys Refuse disposal and treatment (CPV 9051), and who usually turns up
arc21’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: Refuse disposal and treatment (CPV 9051) →
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 Northern Ireland (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 36 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.
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.
1 bid60% / 40%
2–340% / 55%
4–60% / 5%
7+0% / 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 estimate40%
Within ±2%23%
Above estimate37%
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 9051No real estimate
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 42 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid40%
2–355%
4–65%
7+0%
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
- 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
- 28 Apr 2026, 16:24 BST
- Last source update
- 28 Apr 2026, 16:24 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-038787- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068d32Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
28 Apr 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published175 days ago28 Apr 2026, 16:24 BST
- Market engagement162 days ago11 May 2026, 23:59 BST
An Information Memorandum and Questionnaire have been prepared and interested parties are asked to submit responses to the questions posed by 17:00hrs on Monday 11 May 2026 following which those who have participated will have the opportunity to meet with the Authority and their consultants to discuss their response.
Further details are provided in the Information Memorandum.
Any interested parties are required to submit their response through the eTendersNI secure messaging area of the Call for Tender (CfT) Ref: 6460104. All correspondence in relation to this Pre-Market
Engagement exercise must be communicated via the eTendersNI secure messaging area.
To register on eTendersNI and access the Information Memorandum and Questionnaire, please use the following link etendersni.gov.uk ↗ and locate CfT Ref: 6460104.
Interested parties should also note that any interest shown does not constitute a commitment to participate in any future tendering exercise.
- Contract starts20 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Apr 2026, 16:24 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