Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 28 Apr 2026, 14:19 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Intellectual Property Audit · UK public procurement notice

Authority: York St John University (Education)

ServicesBelow threshold
Planned pipeline value£10,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 6 moends 1 Dec 2026 · starts 1 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The University seeks a skilled and experienced consultant to deliver an IP audit, which should include, but not be limited to, the following elements:

  1. Policy and Documentation Review
  • Review YSJ’s existing Intellectual Property Policy and all associated guidance, templates and documentation.
  • Recommend updates to ensure alignment with sector best practice and YSJ’s strategic ambitions.
  • Produce an updated IP Policy, together with supporting documentation where appropriate.
  1. IP Process and Decision Framework
  • Develop a clear, practical IP decision tree and process to support staff in identifying, disclosing and progressing IP.
  • The process should be understandable to non specialists and suitable for an institution with limited internal IP resource.
  • The framework should support progression from identification through protection and onward commercialisation where appropriate.
  1. IP Awareness and Senior Leadership Engagement

Deliver a concise 20 minute presentation to senior managers at YSJ, in person, on:

  • The importance of intellectual property in a university context
  • The purpose and value of the IP audit
  • The risks of unmanaged or unprotected IP

This session should support institutional understanding and senior ownership of IP activity.

  1. Academic and Research Staff Survey
  • Design and support the dissemination of a survey to academic and research staff across the University to:
  • Raise awareness of IP
  • Identify staff who may hold existing or emerging IP
  • Capture information on IP that may or may not already be protected

Support YSJ in interpreting survey outputs and identifying candidates for follow up.

  1. Face to Face Academic Interviews
  • Conduct a number of face to face interviews with academics identified through the survey or via leadership engagement as potentially holding IP.

Interviews should explore:

  • The nature of potential IP
  • Current status (protected/unprotected)
  • Commercial relevance or translational potential

Interviews will take place in person at York St John University.

  1. Reporting and Outputs

Provide a comprehensive written report that includes:

  • Findings from the policy review
  • A revised IP policy and supporting processes
  • A clear IP decision tree
  • A summary of survey findings
  • A register or summary of any existing or potential IP identified during the audit
  • Practical recommendations for next steps

Consultant Requirements

Successful applicants must be able to demonstrate:

  • Proven experience delivering IP or commercialisation audits within UK universities
  • Experience working with non Russell Group or teaching focused institutions
  • Strong understanding of non traditional and practice based IP (e.g. health, sport, digital, pedagogic or professional practice innovation), not solely patent led science
  • Willingness and ability to travel to York to:
  • Deliver the senior management presentation
  • Conduct face to face interviews with academics

Timescales and Format

YSJ anticipates this being a short, defined engagement, with flexibility in delivery approach.

Consultants are asked to provide initial information using the MS Form link below:

forms.cloud.microsoft/e/FMn3kHdUWQ ↗

Responses will include:

  • A short description of their approach
  • Evidence of relevant experience
  • An outline cost proposal
  • Availability to deliver the work
  • Approach and methodology

This information will be used to help us confirm our path to market and define our specification.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:

neupc.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-York:-… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

neupc.delta-esourcing.com/respond/HTGSE7J97P ↗

CPV: Research and development consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 6 mo

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How York St John University buys Research and development consultancy services (CPV 7320), and who usually turns up

York St John 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: Research and development consultancy services (CPV 7320) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerYork St John University · all categories
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 5 of 12 known-size awards · market: CPV 7320 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=8
42%75%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Yorkshire and the Humber.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 15 known-location awards · market: CPV 7320 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=14
20%14%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Yorkshire and the Humber.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 12 decided notices · market: CPV 7320 · UK-wide, n=19
38 days27 days

Half of these awards were announced within 38 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 4 of 16 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7320 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=15
25%27%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer12 lots with bid counts · all categories
8% had one bid
The market32 lots with bid counts · CPV 7320 · UK-wide
16% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid8% / 16%
Buyer: 1 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
2–333% / 28%
Buyer: 4 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 31%
Buyer: 3 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
7+33% / 25%
Buyer: 4 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 32 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer8 lots with estimate and award · all categories
13% below estimate
The market5 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7320 · Yorkshire and the Humber
60% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate13% / 60%
Buyer: 1 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%88% / 40%
Buyer: 7 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 73206 monthsPublished estimate£10k
Expected competition
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 24 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 24 similar lots
1 bid13%
3 of 24 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–321%
5 of 24 similar past lots received 2–3 (21%).
4–633%
8 of 24 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+33%
8 of 24 similar past lots received 7+ (33%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £10k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
Below threshold
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
28 Apr 2026, 14:19 BST
Last source update
28 Apr 2026, 14:19 BST
Authority reference
TEN039
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-038629
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Research and development consultancy services
Delivery area
Yorkshire & Humber (UKE21)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068ce8 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

28 Apr 2026 → 1 Jun 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published175 days ago
    28 Apr 2026, 14:19 BST
  2. Market engagement144 days ago
    29 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    York St John University is undertaking preliminary market engagement with a small number of specialist IP audit and commercialisation consultants to gauge wider market appetite and capability. This early engagement is focused on testing the feasibility of our proposed scope, understanding typical delivery models, and confirming the availability of providers with experience in non‐Russell Group, practice‐led university contexts. The feedback received to date indicates a healthy level of interest and is being used help refine our requirements.

  3. Contract starts142 days ago
    1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    28 Apr 2026, 14:19 BST
    UK2

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

York St John University

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PGRG-9322-VXQG Lord Mayors Walk, Lord Mayor's Walk, York, Yorkshire & Humber, YO31 7EXContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure