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Published 20 Aug 2026, 09:40 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Expression of Interest/Pre-Market Engagement for Playful Structures Peterborough City Centre

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: Peterborough City Council (Local council)

GoodsBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Musical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessories (37)Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products (39)Recreational, cultural and sporting services (92) Delivery: East of England (UKH11)
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yr 2 moends 31 Dec 2027 · starts 2 Nov 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Peterborough City Council is seeking expression of interests/pre-market engagement from experienced arts organisation's, Community Interest Company, artist collective or creative practice to design, manufacture and install a series of high-quality playful public realm structures within St John's Square, Peterborough.

This forms part of the Council's Pride in Place Impact Fund programme and supports the wider Cathedral and St John's Square Vision Plan. The programme seeks to improve the quality, appearance and usability of key civic spaces, create a greener and more inclusive city centre, increase activity and dwell time, and support the wider regeneration of Peterborough's civic heart.

The aim of this project is to design and deliver between four and six permanent playful public realm structures within St John's Square. The structures should encourage exploration, social interaction, informal play and moments of pause, while also functioning as high-quality pieces of public art, civic furniture and distinctive place-making features.

The installations should invite people to sit, recline, climb, balance, gather, play informally, pause and spend longer within the square. They should appeal to a broad range of ages and abilities without creating a segregated or traditional children's play area.

CPV: Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products · Musical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessories · Recreational, cultural and sporting services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 1 yr 2 moSMEVCSE
Contract period: 2 Nov 2026 – 31 Dec 2027 (1 yr 2 mo)
Delivery: East of EnglandEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
37000000 Musical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessories39000000 Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products92000000 Recreational, cultural and sporting services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Peterborough City Council buys Musical instruments, sport, games (CPV 37), and who usually turns up

Peterborough City 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: Musical instruments, sport, games (CPV 37) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerPeterborough City Council · all categories
The marketMusical instruments, sport, games (CPV 37) · East of England
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: 32 of 55 known-size awards · market: division 37 · East of England, n=30
58%87%

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. The market figure counts awards delivered in East of England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 38 of 62 known-location awards · market: division 37 · East of England, n=41
61%15%

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: 13 decided notices · market: division 37 · East of England, n=16
60 days40 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 60 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 50 of 76 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 37 · East of England, n=49
66%16%

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 buyer21 lots with bid counts · all categories
19% had one bid
The market20 lots with bid counts · division 37 · East of England
5% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid19% / 5%
Buyer: 4 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 20 lots with published bid counts.
2–324% / 40%
Buyer: 5 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 20 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 40%
Buyer: 7 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 20 lots with published bid counts.
7+24% / 15%
Buyer: 5 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 20 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 buyer19 lots with estimate and award · all categories
21% below estimate
The market19 lots with estimate and award · division 37 · East of England
26% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate21% / 26%
Buyer: 4 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%63% / 58%
Buyer: 12 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16% / 16%
Buyer: 3 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 19 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 3714 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 37. 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 20 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet5% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 20 similar lots
1 bid5%
1 of 20 similar past lots received 1 bid (5%).
2–340%
8 of 20 similar past lots received 2–3 (40%).
4–640%
8 of 20 similar past lots received 4–6 (40%).
7+15%
3 of 20 similar past lots received 7+ (15%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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
Goods
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
20 Aug 2026, 09:40 BST
Last source update
20 Aug 2026, 09:40 BST
Authority reference
DN826796
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-079289
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning productsMusical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessoriesRecreational, cultural and sporting services
Delivery area
East of England (UKH11)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Aug 2026 → 2 Nov 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published69 days ago
    20 Aug 2026, 09:40 BST
  2. Market engagement44 days ago
    14 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    This opportunity will be available on the ProContract portal from 12:00pm Monday 24th August 2026.

    This advert link procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View ↗ will take you to the portal where you can register/login, express and interest and access the EoI/PME document

    To express an interest please respond to this request via the e-tendering portal ProContract procontract.due-north.com ↗ (the portal) responses should be in word or PDF and should be attached as your response.

    1. Please provide written details of how you would meet the requirements of this requirement. Please include if you would complete the following in-house or if you would subcontract or your preference would be for separate contracts for each stage
    • full design
    • development
    • manufacture
    • installation
    • handover of the playful public realm structures

    No more than 1000 words, approximately 2 sides of A4

    1. Please share photos of previous structures that meet the requirements, photos can be attached or you can provide a link to social media where your work is on display, for example, YouTube or Instagram.
    2. Please provide an example of a previous project to include
    • Successes
    • Issues
    • Solutions
    • Lessons learnt

    No more than 1000 words, approximately 2 sides of A4

    1. Please provide what you would expect to see as the contract value? This can be stated as a range and will only be used as guidance for the authority when setting the project budget.

    Reponses are required to be submitted via the portal by Monday 14th September 2026 at 12:00 (noon).

    Any clarifications can be sent via the messaging function on the portal; responses will be public unless it is deemed of no benefit to other interested parties.

  3. Today
    29 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 3 days
    2 Nov 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Aug 2026, 09:40 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

Peterborough City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PLXM-3229-WVQH Sand Martin House Peterborough, Bittern Way, Peterborough, East of England, PE2 8TYContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure