Official UK procurement notice
Forestry England Security Services
Authority: Forestry Commission (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionForestry England is the largest land manager in England and custodian of the nation’s forests. Our mission is to connect everyone with the nation’s forests by creating and caring for forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and businesses to grow.
We are seeking expressions of interest for a Security Service contract for multiple sites across the country. Services will include: locking and unlocking gates and toilets, CCTV and alarm system installation, servicing and monitoring, and call outs.
The contract will be separated into geographical lots to promote opportunities for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs). All lots require barrier locking during the morning and/or evening at specified times and site attendance to release vehicles locked in overnight upon request. Some lots require toilet buildings to be locked and/or unlocked, car parking pay machines to be locked and/or unlocked, and CCTV installation and maintenance.
The sites included in the contract span all of England with some situated in remote forest locations.
A list of indicative Lots and potential contract locations within these Lots can be found below (please note this may not be an exhaustive list of Lots & locations):
Lot 1 (East District) - Likely locations include Jeskyns Forest Centre (Kent) & Wendover Forest Centre (Chilterns). Requirement in this lot will include (but not be limited to) barrier locking (AM & PM), site attendance to release vehicles (upon request), toilet building locking (PM). Estimated total value of the Lot = £89k
Lot 2 (West District) - Likely locations include multiple recreation sites and car parks in Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) & Haldon Forest Centre (Exeter). Requirement in this lot will include (but not be limited to) barrier locking (AM & PM), site attendance to release vehicles (upon request), toilet building unlocking (AM) and locking (PM). Estimated total value of the Lot = £229k
Lot 3 (South District) - Likely locations include Alice Holt Forest Centre. Requirement in this lot will include (but not be limited to) barrier locking (AM & PM), site attendance to release vehicles (upon request), toilet building unlocking (AM) and locking (PM), CCTV installation and maintenance. Estimated total value of the Lot = £62k
Lot 4 (Central District) - Likely locations include Delamere Forest Centre, Cannock Chase Forest Centre & Salcey Forest Centre. Requirement in this lot will include (but not be limited to) barrier locking (AM & PM), site attendance to release vehicles (upon request), toilet building locking (PM). Estimated total value of the Lot = £155k
CPV: Security services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Forestry Commission buys Security services (CPV 7971), and who usually turns up
Forestry Commission’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: Security services (CPV 7971) →
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 South West England (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in South West England.
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 41 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.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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 bid6% / 13%
2–333% / 13%
4–652% / 20%
7+9% / 53%
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 estimate34% / 50%
Within ±2%41% / 38%
Above estimate25% / 13%
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 7971Published estimate£420k
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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–313%
4–620%
7+53%
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
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 23 Apr 2026, 17:44 BST
- Last source update
- 23 Apr 2026, 17:44 BST
- Authority reference
FCCN004613- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-037312- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068a21Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
23 Apr 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published180 days ago23 Apr 2026, 17:44 BST
- Market engagement158 days ago15 May 2026, 23:59 BST
If you are interested in bidding for this opportunity, please contact [email protected] marking your email for the attention of Arran Price.
We are particularly keen to hear from interested companies regarding their views on the proposed size and distribution of the geographical lots and their capacity to deliver the required services across these lots. Supplier insight on these aspects will help inform our approach and ensure the proposed model is practical and deliverable.
Following consideration of the initial expressions of interest, Forestry England may wish to engage in further soft market testing with respondents.
Therefore, at this stage the scope of the contract is still subject to change based on feedback from the market.
This preliminary market engagement notice does not commit Forestry England to any future procurement or any subsequent decisions based on the output of the market sounding exercise. Forestry England reserves the right not to proceed to a formal procurement process.
- Contract starts50 days ago1 Sept 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published23 Apr 2026, 17:44 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