Official UK procurement notice
Graduation Venue and Events Management
Authority: De Montfort University (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDe Montfort University has a requirement for a suitable - and suitably-sized - venue to hire to host graduation ceremonies, along with a suitably qualified and experienced Event Management Production service for the planning, production and delivery of graduation services, as described in the Specification, to include on the day management and event production of each ceremony.
For clarification, it is intended to contract with a single supplier for provision of these services.
The current annual spend on these services is around £332k ex.VAT, in an approximate split of c.£145k for Winter graduations, c. £187k for Summer graduations; it is anticipated that the current broad level of activity will continue for the proposed duration of the new contract(s).
Current contract for these services will expire on 29th February 2028 and new service provision is therefore required from 1st March 2028. It is anticipated that contract(s) will be awarded for an initial approximate three-year period to 28th February 2031 with the potential opportunity to extend for up to a further two years for a maximum five-year duration, anticipated maximum end date 28th February 2033 (any extension will be offered based on available budget, supplier performance and continuing business need - and in all cases at the sole discretion of the University).
CPV: Event services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How De Montfort University buys Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995), and who usually turns up
De Montfort University’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: Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995) →
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 East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East Midlands.
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 56 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.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
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.
1 bid26%
2–328%
4–632%
7+14%
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 estimate30%
Within ±2%56%
Above estimate15%
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 7995Published estimate£1.8m
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 128 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–328%
4–622%
7+41%
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leicester Theatre TrustEarlier contract | 1578 Venue and Event Management Services for University Graduation Ceremoniesnotice published Oct 2021 | Venue and Event Management Services | £1.4m | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
46% title match.
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.
46% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (46% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
1578 Venue and Event Management Services for University Graduation Ceremonies — held by Leicester Theatre Trust; no contract end date published.
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
- 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
- 8 Jun 2026, 21:37 BST
- Last source update
- 8 Jun 2026, 21:37 BST
- Authority reference
266600- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-054027- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06b051Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
8 Jun 2026 → 1 Mar 2028 · 3 dates- Planning notice published134 days ago8 Jun 2026, 21:37 BST
- Market engagement120 days ago22 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
The aim of this supplier engagement process is for the University to share our present thinking around the requirement for our future Graduation Venue and Events Management needs, obtain a better idea of the current capability and readiness of the market with regard to provision of these services, and to assess whether our outline requirement for supply of these services is realistic and in line with what is available.
Our current draft requirement for the services and the market engagement form can be found on the In-Tend e tendering portal in-tendhost.co.uk/demontfort/aspx/Home ↗
Once complete, please return this form to [email protected], marked for the attention of James West, ideally by Monday 22nd June.
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract starts1 Mar 2028
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Jun 2026, 21:37 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