Official UK procurement notice
ID 6841048 - DfC - The Provision of Cleaning Services to National Museums Northern Ireland
Authority: National Museums Northern Ireland (Central government)·Procurement run by: CPD - Supplies and Services Division
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNational Museums Northern Ireland seeks to award a contract for the Provision of Cleaning Services to its four museums and two stores, Ulster Museum, Belfast, Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra, Co Down, Ulster Transport Museum, Cultra, Co Down, Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh and its Belfast Stores on Heron Road. Suppliers should refer to the CfT documents for full details of the requirements of this contract.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 10 Nov 2032, 23:59 GMT.
CPV: Cleaning services · Facilities management services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£5,000,000
- Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
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).
- AC1 - Service Delivery: As per tender documentation weighting is 18 per cent
- AC2 Implementation: As per tender documentation Weighting is 6 per cent
- AC3 - Contract Management: As per tender documentation Weighting is 6 per cent
- AC4 - Social Value: As per tender documentation Weighting is 10 per cent
- AC5 - Fair Working Practices: As per tender documentation Pass Fail criteria
- AC6 - Total Contract Price: As per tender documentation Weighting is 60 per cent
- Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £3,330,292 (twice the annual value).
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 National Museums Northern Ireland buys Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999), and who usually turns up
National Museums Northern Ireland’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: Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999) →
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.
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 in 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 21 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.
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 bid29% / 14%
2–329% / 27%
4–643% / 29%
7+0% / 30%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Awards below, close to or above the estimate, per lot. The buyer side adds below-threshold contracts with a pre-award estimate; an award inside a published range counts as close.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate0% / 43%
Within ±2%100% / 34%
Above estimate0% / 23%
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 7999Published estimate£5.0m
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 204 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid24%
2–327%
4–628%
7+21%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIG AND BOLD LIMITEDLive contract | DfC - National Museums NI - Provision of Marketing and Communication Servicesruns to Jan 2029 | Lot 1: Design, Advertising and Creative Services | £700k | Matched as the earlier contract |
| NAVIGATOR BLUE LTDLive contract | DfC - National Museums NI - Provision of Marketing and Communication Servicesruns to Jan 2029 | Lot 4: Communications and PR Services | £500k | Matched as the earlier contract |
| ANDERSON SPRATT GROUP LTDLive contract | DfC - National Museums NI - Provision of Marketing and Communication Servicesruns to Jan 2029 | Lot 2: Offline Media Buying | £350k | 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 and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly. Contracts Finder appears in live search, the Retender Radar, contract pages, organisation counts, the earlier contracts and past suppliers on a tender's competition panel, the buyer's decision figure and its award against estimate; the other analytical figures are built from Find a Tender notices.
- 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
DfC - National Museums NI - Provision of Marketing and Communication Services — held by BIG AND BOLD LIMITED and NAVIGATOR BLUE LTD (+1 more); the published contract ends 4 Jan 2029.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 10 Nov 2032
- First published
- 10 Nov 2026, 13:35 GMT
- Last source update
- 10 Nov 2026, 13:35 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 14 Jan 2027
- Authority reference
ID 6841048- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-106679- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b897Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Contract Value
The estimated value figure indicated in the Scope Section represents an overall estimated contract value. This value reflects the potential scale of the contract and takes into account potential optional extension periods and the uptake of potential optional services as detailed in the tender documents. This figure does not however take into account the application of indexation or increases to charges due to increases in the Real Living Wage. Neither CPD nor the contracting Authority can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Suppliers remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Supplier in connection with taking part in this procurement process regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise (and a Supplier shall have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into) until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the Contracting Authority.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via eTendersNI- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 10 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 1 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders must be submitted electronically via the relevant Call for Tender (CfT) opportunity on eTendersNI, website details immediately below.
Paper submissions will not be accepted or considered and will be rejected by the Contracting Authority / Buyer.
The tender documents are available with unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: URL etendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
Timeline
10 Nov 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 5 dates- Tender notice published1h ago10 Nov 2026, 13:35 GMT
- Today10 Nov 2026
- Clarification questions byin 21 days1 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 30 days10 Dec 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 65 days14 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 141 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published10 Nov 2026, 13:35 GMTUK4
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
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- CPD - Supplies & Services DivisionProcess contact pointProcuring entityConstruction and Procurement Delivery – Supplies and Services Division, is a Centre of Procurement Expertise and provides a central procurement function for central government in Northern Ireland
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender