Official UK procurement notice
Gym Equipment · University of Kent (Feb 2026)
Authority: University of Kent (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe University of Kent is undertaking a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) activity in accordance with Section 16 of the Procurement Act 2023. The current fitness suite equipment is up to 12 years old and currently not under warranty. With cardiovascular equipment failing regularly and parts and servicing obsolete or slow machines are placed out of order frequently awaiting attention from Core Health & Fitness Technicians or awaiting parts that can take weeks to ship and arrive. The purpose of this engagement is to develop an understanding of the available market, commercial models, costs, risks and delivery options for the provision of gym equipment. The University has not yet decided whether the requirement will be met through purchase, lease, lease to buy or another arrangement. Information gathered from this exercise will be used to inform the decision making regarding the preferred commercial approach to help shape the project specification for the provision of gym equipment. Participation or non-participation in this exercise will not prevent any supplier from participating in any future procurement process. It is not intended that information provided by any supplier will place any supplier at an advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement. Responses received as part of this preliminary market engagement will not be scored or evaluated. This preliminary market engagement does not constitute a commitment to undertake a procurement exercise. However, subject to the outcome of this engagement, it is the University’s intention to commence a procurement exercise w/c 9th March 2026. Response and Deadline Please complete the questions below and return via the EU Supply portal by 24th February 2026 at 12:00hrs.
CPV: Fitness equipments · Gymnasium equipment · Machinery or apparatus for leisure equipment · Weight and resistance training equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How University of Kent buys Fitness equipments (CPV 3744), and who usually turns up
University of Kent’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: Fitness equipments (CPV 3744) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 27 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?
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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 bid47% / 20%
2–324% / 40%
4–612% / 20%
7+18% / 20%
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 estimate54% / 32%
Within ±2%23% / 49%
Above estimate23% / 19%
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 37Published estimate£375k
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 37. The comparison uses that group.
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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 68 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid15%
2–340%
4–632%
7+13%
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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
- 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
- 17 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Last source update
- 17 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Authority reference
CB25_005- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-014243- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0655deFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
17 Feb 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published248 days ago17 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Market engagement240 days ago24 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice expected227 days ago9 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts114 days ago1 Jul 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMTUK2
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