Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 7 Nov 2025, 12:45 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Fairtrade Clothing Suppliers · UK public procurement notice

Authority: University of Plymouth (Education)

GoodsBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Dec 2025from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 1 Jan 2028 · starts 1 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The University of Plymouth are fully committed to supporting and championing Fairtrade and its values across our campus and community. We recognise the importance of ethical sourcing and fair-trading practices in promoting social justice, environmental sustainability and global equity. As part of our commitment as Fairtrade University, we are seeking to work with suppliers who can support the procurement and supply of Fairtrade-certified clothing. We invite suppliers to provide information and proposals that demonstrate their ability to meet the following requirements:

  • Specified clothing supplied must be Fairtrade-certified and bear the official Fairtrade Mark.
  • Suppliers must provide evidence of certification and maintain compliance with Fairtrade standards throughout the supply chain.
  • Garments should be produced under conditions that ensure fair wages, safe working environments, and no forced or child labour.
  • Suppliers should provide clear documentation detailing the origin of materials, manufacturing locations, and Fairtrade supply chain partners (The University may request verification audits or certification reports as part of its due diligence).
  • Ability to supply a range of Fairtrade clothing, including but not limited to: uniforms, event merchandise, branded university apparel, and promotional items.
  • Garments must meet the University’s quality, durability, and branding standards.
  • Suppliers are encouraged to support the University’s wider Fairtrade and sustainability engagement initiatives, such as Fairtrade Fortnight, awareness campaigns, and educational events.
  • Opportunities for joint promotion of Fairtrade values (e.g., showcasing supply chain stories or Fairtrade cotton origins) are welcomed.
  • Supplier to showcase competitive and transparent pricing that reflects both the Fairtrade premium and long-term value for money. Where an organisation is able to demonstrate the requirements given, please express interest by contacting [email protected] by 28th November 2025, 12:00.

CPV: Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessories · Occupational clothing, special workwear and accessories

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 2 yrsSMEVCSE

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

How University of Plymouth buys Occupational clothing, special workwear and accessories (CPV 1810), and who usually turns up

University of Plymouth’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: Occupational clothing, special workwear and accessories (CPV 1810) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUniversity of Plymouth · 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: 40 of 59 known-size awards · market: CPV 1810 · UK-wide, n=38
68%68%

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.

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 30 of 75 known-location awards · market: CPV 1810 · UK-wide, n=35
40%34%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South West England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 1810 · UK-wide, n=8
—63 days

Half of these awards were announced within 63 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 31 of 88 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 1810 · UK-wide, n=45
35%38%

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 buyer4 lots with bid counts · all categories · too few to chart
The market26 lots with bid counts · CPV 1810 · UK-wide
8% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid8%
Market: 2 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
2–331%
Market: 8 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
4–64%
Market: 1 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
7+58%
Market: 15 of 26 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 buyer2 lots with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The market15 lots with estimate and award · CPV 1810 · UK-wide
27% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate27%
Market: 4 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%47%
Market: 7 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate27%
Market: 4 of 15 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 181024 monthsSME suitableNo real estimate
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 26 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 26 similar lots
1 bid8%
2 of 26 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–331%
8 of 26 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–64%
1 of 26 similar past lots received 4–6 (4%).
7+58%
15 of 26 similar past lots received 7+ (58%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 10 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
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
7 Nov 2025, 12:45 GMT
Last source update
7 Nov 2025, 12:45 GMT
Authority reference
MW_UoP_Fairtrade_Clothing_130_25
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-072017
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessoriesOccupational clothing, special workwear and accessories
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05dcc0 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

7 Nov 2025 → 1 Jan 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published348 days ago
    7 Nov 2025, 12:45 GMT
  2. Market engagement327 days ago
    28 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Where an organisation is able to demonstrate the requirements given, please express interest by contacting [email protected] by 28th November 2025, 12:00.

  3. Tender notice expected324 days ago
    1 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts294 days ago
    1 Jan 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    7 Nov 2025, 12:45 GMT
    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

University of Plymouth

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-UKPRN: 10007801 Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, South West, PL4 8AAContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure