Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 12 Mar 2026, 10:09 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Ealing Council Festivals and Events Tender 2026-2031

Authority: London Borough of Ealing (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£4,080,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 22 Jun 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 31 Aug 2031 · up to 31 Aug 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Sept 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Ealing Council is seeking to appoint an external events company to take on management of

(A) Ealing Summer Festivals and

(B) Ealing’s Place Services (Events)

from 1 September 2026 for 5 years to 31 August 2031 with the option to extend one year to 31 August 2032 (max 6-year contract). These two services will be combined in a single Ealing Festivals & Events contract.

Management of the two services consists in:

C. Ealing Summer Festivals (ESF)

i) Managing the festival site: provision of infrastructure (e.g. staging, fencing, tech, sanitary facilities), security, health & safety, community liaison, etc.

ii) Programming and developing the programme: a mixture of in-house production for some festivals (e.g. Jazz, Blues, Comedy) and contracting with external events companies for others.

D. Place Services (Events)

i) Processing applications and permissions for approximately 150 events and activities a year in parks and public places, ranging from festivals and sports events to fitness classes, dog walking, and street parties.

ii) Co-ordinating the monthly Ealing Safety Advisory Group and ensuring that approved events take place in compliance with health and safety legislation and industry best practice.

The Council is seeking to engage with the market ahead of a potential procurement opportunity for the delivery of the above services, a major cultural and community event attracting thousands attendees annually.

The Authority intends to explore innovative, sustainable and cost‑effective approaches to event delivery, programming, production, and audience experience. This engagement aims to understand market capacity, capability, delivery models, risks, and opportunities to inform the upcoming procurement. Please complete the attached Pre Market Engagement Questionnaire and return to the Council by the deadline (01/05/2026).

Please find below link to Atamis e- tendering system which you will need to register yourself in order to view the pre market engagement questionnaire.

Atamis link: ealinglbc-atamis.my.site.com/login ↗

Once registered, you will need to look up the "Ealing Council Festivals and Events Tender 2026-2031 ; Ref 232628ES" opportunity to view the attachment/questionnaire.

Clarifications and questions regarding this pre market engagement process should be raised via the messaging system on the e-tendering portal Atamis (under this named opportunity under project ref - C0642), alternatively if you have any problems or technical difficulties accessing the portal you may email [email protected]/ tel : 029 2280 9277, however all questions and answers will be published via Atamis to ensure transparency.

CPV: Cultural event organisation services · Event services · Festival organisation services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 5 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2031 (5 yrs) · up to 31 Aug 2032 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How London Borough of Ealing buys Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995), and who usually turns up

London Borough of Ealing’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: Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLondon Borough of Ealing · 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: 10 of 19 known-size awards · market: CPV 7995 · UK-wide, n=314
53%62%

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: 12 of 20 known-location awards · market: CPV 7995 · UK-wide, n=208
60%63%

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: 4 decided notices · market: CPV 7995 · UK-wide, n=67
99 days29 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 99 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 9 of 22 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7995 · UK-wide, n=470
41%53%

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 buyer14 lots with bid counts · all categories
14% had one bid
The market113 lots with bid counts · CPV 7995 · UK-wide
27% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid14% / 27%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 31 of 113 lots with published bid counts.
2–343% / 27%
Buyer: 6 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 31 of 113 lots with published bid counts.
4–636% / 30%
Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 34 of 113 lots with published bid counts.
7+7% / 15%
Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 17 of 113 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 buyerToo few to chart: 4 lots with estimate and award, 5 needed · all categories
The market89 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7995 · UK-wide
28% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate28%
Market: 25 of 89 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%58%
Market: 52 of 89 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate13%
Market: 12 of 89 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 799560 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£4.1m
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 113 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet27% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 113 similar lots
1 bid27%
31 of 113 similar past lots received 1 bid (27%).
2–327%
31 of 113 similar past lots received 2–3 (27%).
4–630%
34 of 113 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+15%
17 of 113 similar past lots received 7+ (15%).
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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £4.1m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
Above threshold (FTS publication)
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
12 Mar 2026, 10:09 GMT
Last source update
22 Apr 2026, 15:33 BST
Authority reference
232628ES
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-036723
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Cultural event organisation servicesEvent servicesFestival organisation services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06680a Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

12 Mar 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published226 days ago
    12 Mar 2026, 10:09 GMT
  2. Latest notice published185 days ago
    22 Apr 2026, 15:33 BST
  3. Market engagement175 days ago
    1 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    Please refer to the attachment "Pre Market Engagement Questionnaire" for further details.

    The deadline for submitting responses to the questionnaire has been revised and extended till 12 noon on 01/05/2026.

  4. Tender notice expected123 days ago
    22 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract starts53 days ago
    1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 12 Mar 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    12 Mar 2026, 10:09 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    22 Apr 2026, 15:33 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Extend deadline for PME submissions

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

London Borough of Ealing Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PRHZ-3346-MGDQ Third Floor (Plum Area) Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, London, London, W5 2HLContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure