Official UK procurement notice
Heaton TRU Upgrades Designs
Authority: Northern Trains Ltd (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNorthern Trains Ltd, is a Train Operating Company (TOC) that operates passenger rail services in the North of England. Northern Trains Ltd is publishing this notice to establish a contract for the designs at Heaton Train Care Centre for TRU.
This project requires the development of designs to accepted for construction (AFC) status for the proposed enhancements at Heaton TCC. The successful tenderer shall be appointed as the Principal Designer under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (2015) and undertake all required duties of this role.
The appointed supplier will be responsible for producing and developing the design to AFC status for the scope of items included in this document and supporting tender package. This will include production of Inspection and Test Plans (ITP), Designer’s Risk Assessment (DRA), and Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA). For further details please see Heaton TRU Work scope within this tender package.
The nature of the arrangement is that new services will be supplied under a JCT Consultancy Agreement.
Where used throughout this notice, the meaning of Train Operating Companies includes all and any of those train operating companies who, currently or in the future, provide services for the carriage of passengers by railway:
under a franchise agreement with the Secretary of State within the meaning of section 23(3) of the Railways Act 1993 or under, or secured under, the Secretary of State’s duty in section 30(1) of the Railways Act 1993; or in accordance with legislation which supersedes or amends the powers referred to in a) and b), including where such powers are transferred from the Secretary of State to another body.
The list of current providers of services for the carriage of passengers by railway under these provisions can be found at www.gov.uk/guidance/public-regi… ↗.
Novation or Assignment
The contract may be novated or assigned by Northern Trains Ltd to Train Operating Companies, or to DFT Operator Limited (company number: 07141122) or any successor parent company to a Train Operating Company, following a corporate restructuring or similar circumstance.
Other Information
Northern Trains Ltd expressly reserves the right:
not to award any suppliers the contract referred to in this notice; and in no circumstances will the customer be liable for any costs incurred by the suppliers.
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the DELTA at: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/446C6938M7 ↗
To respond to this opportunity, please click here: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/446C6938M7 ↗
CPV: Designs · Feasibility study
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£163,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Quality Criteria: 55%
- Price Criteria: 45%
Published award criteria (2)
- Quality Criteria
- Price Criteria
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
- Price carries 45 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4.5 points. Quality carries 55 of 100: the paper moves it further than the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £326,000 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Northern Trains Ltd buys Postcards (CPV 2231), and who usually turns up
Northern Trains Ltd’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: Postcards (CPV 2231) →
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 North East England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside North East 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 42 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 bid0% / 7%
2–320% / 33%
4–640% / 28%
7+40% / 33%
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 estimate50% / 44%
Within ±2%25% / 48%
Above estimate25% / 8%
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 2231Published estimate£163k
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 43 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–333%
4–628%
7+33%
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.
No supplier with a record in this category fits this lot yet.
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 match score 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- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 13 Oct 2026, 15:20 BST
- Last source update
- 13 Oct 2026, 15:20 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096651- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0786c4Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via Delta eSourcing- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 9 Nov 2026, 16:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 9 Nov 2026, 16:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
To respond to this opportunity, please click here: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/446C6938M7 ↗
Timeline
13 Oct 2026 → 7 Dec 2026 · 4 dates- Tender notice publishedearlier today13 Oct 2026, 15:20 BST
- Today14 Oct 2026
- Clarification questions byin 27 days9 Nov 2026, 16:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 27 days9 Nov 2026, 16:00 GMT
- Contract startsin 54 days7 Dec 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published13 Oct 2026, 15:20 BSTUK4
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- 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
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender