Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 10 Jul 2026, 13:13 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Wholesale- Retail Convenience

Authority: University of Exeter (Central government)

GoodsAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£25,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Dec 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrs 5 moends 31 Jul 2032 · starts 1 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The University of Exeter is conducting pre-market engagement to inform the development of its forthcoming procurement for the provision of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Wholesale supplies. The purpose of this engagement is to obtain feedback from the market on the proposed scope of the requirement, procurement approach, contract structure, evaluation methodology and any other considerations that may help shape the tender documentation. Interested suppliers are invited to participate by submitting: -A completed Pre-Market Engagement Questionnaire; and -A brief company presentation or pitch outlining your organisation, the products and services you offer, relevant experience, innovations, and any value-added services that could support the University's requirements. Responses should be submitted via the e-tendering portal by Monday 30th November 2026. The University will review responses on a rolling basis throughout the pre-market engagement period and may contact suppliers before the closing date to seek clarification, request additional information or arrange follow-up discussions where appropriate. As responses are reviewed, the University may invite suppliers to attend individual meetings, either virtually via Microsoft Teams or in person at the University of Exeter, to discuss their feedback and proposals in more detail. Invitations will be issued throughout the pre-market engagement period, and meeting dates and times will be agreed directly with the relevant suppliers. Participation in this PME is voluntary and does not constitute a call for competition. The information gathered will be used solely to help inform the University's procurement strategy and tender documentation. Participation will not provide any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement process, and the University reserves the right to amend its procurement strategy or decide not to proceed with the procurement following completion of this engagement exercise.

CPV: Food, beverages, tobacco and related products

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 5 yrs 5 mo
Contract period: 1 Mar 2027 – 31 Jul 2032 (5 yrs 5 mo)
Delivery: UK

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How University of Exeter buys Food, drink, tobacco (CPV 15), and who usually turns up

University of Exeter’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: Food, drink, tobacco (CPV 15) →

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 Exeter · all categories
The marketFood, drink, tobacco (CPV 15) · UK-wide
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: 116 of 206 known-size awards · market: division 15 · UK-wide, n=267
56%52%

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: 18 of 91 known-location awards · market: division 15 · UK-wide, n=236
20%62%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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: 16 decided notices · market: division 15 · UK-wide, n=56
48 days45 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 48 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 243 of 309 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 15 · UK-wide, n=245
79%33%

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 buyer24 lots with bid counts · all categories
33% had one bid
The market227 lots with bid counts · division 15 · UK-wide
26% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid33% / 26%
Buyer: 8 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 58 of 227 lots with published bid counts.
2–321% / 39%
Buyer: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 88 of 227 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 29%
Buyer: 6 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 66 of 227 lots with published bid counts.
7+21% / 7%
Buyer: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 227 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
47% below estimate
The market131 lots with estimate and award · division 15 · UK-wide
24% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate47% / 24%
Buyer: 9 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 32 of 131 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%47% / 58%
Buyer: 9 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 76 of 131 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate5% / 18%
Buyer: 1 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 23 of 131 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 1565 monthsPublished estimate£25m

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 15. 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 227 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet26% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 227 similar lots
1 bid26%
58 of 227 similar past lots received 1 bid (26%).
2–339%
88 of 227 similar past lots received 2–3 (39%).
4–629%
66 of 227 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+7%
15 of 227 similar past lots received 7+ (7%).
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 £25m, 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
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
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
10 Jul 2026, 13:13 BST
Last source update
10 Jul 2026, 13:13 BST
Authority reference
UOE/2026/140
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-065150
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Food, beverages, tobacco and related products
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c883 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

10 Jul 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published107 days ago
    10 Jul 2026, 13:13 BST
  2. Today
    25 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 37 days
    30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Tender notice expectedin 38 days
    1 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 127 days
    1 Mar 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    10 Jul 2026, 13:13 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

University of Exeter

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PZYG-2396-XCRZ Northcote House, Exeter, South West, EX4 4QHContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure