Find a TenderPlanned procurementPlanned procurement notice
Published 18 Dec 2025, 14:52 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

International & Domestic Courier Services-APAC

Authority: British Council (Local council)

ServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Postal and telecommunications services (64) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£6,700,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 23 Mar 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 26 Jul 2029 · up to 26 Jul 2031 with extensions · starts 27 Jul 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This requirement is for International & Domestic Courier Services for Asia pacific countries in which there would be different lots for each country. Service provider and vendor can choose to bid for services for a single or multiple lots. The chosen supplier/s may have to get in to single or multiple British Council entity level contracts across Asia Pacific countries.

CPV: Courier services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEPublished value£6,700,000
Contract period: 27 Jul 2026 – 26 Jul 2029 (3 yrs) · up to 26 Jul 2031 with extensionsValue: £6,700,000 exc. VAT · £8,040,000 inc. VAT
Eligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Contract will be extended for 1 plus 1-year basis supplier performance and business requirements.
Pre-qualification & selection criteria (PQQ)1
  • Condition of participation

    Quality, service capability and best price.

    shortlisting

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
Conditions of participation1
  • Condition of participation

    Quality, service capability and best price.

    shortlisting

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

How British Council buys Courier services (CPV 6412), and who usually turns up

British Council’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: Courier services (CPV 6412) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerBritish Council · 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: 38 of 104 known-size awards · market: CPV 6412 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=15
37%13%

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 Greater London (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 1 known-location awards · market: CPV 6412 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=7
1 of 129%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

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: 67 decided notices · market: CPV 6412 · UK-wide, n=14
29 days54 days

Half of these awards were announced within 29 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.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 15 of 183 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 6412 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=14
8%43%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

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 buyer63 lots with bid counts · all categories
8% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 6412 · Greater London (authority’s region)
40% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid8% / 40%
Buyer: 5 of 63 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–340% / 20%
Buyer: 25 of 63 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–630% / 0%
Buyer: 19 of 63 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+22% / 40%
Buyer: 14 of 63 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 5 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 buyer36 lots with estimate and award · all categories
53% below estimate
The market19 lots with estimate and award · CPV 6412 · UK-wide
21% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate53% / 21%
Buyer: 19 of 36 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%31% / 68%
Buyer: 11 of 36 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17% / 11%
Buyer: 6 of 36 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 19 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 641236 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£6.7m
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 13 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet38% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 13 similar lots
1 bid38%
5 of 13 similar past lots received 1 bid (38%).
2–323%
3 of 13 similar past lots received 2–3 (23%).
4–623%
3 of 13 similar past lots received 4–6 (23%).
7+15%
2 of 13 similar past lots received 7+ (15%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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 £6.7m, 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.

Restricted route (Stage 2 ITT / Shortlist): Bidding is restricted to invited candidates who qualified at Stage 1. Uninvited suppliers cannot participate in this round.

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
Procedure method
Competitive flexible procedure
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
18 Dec 2025, 14:52 GMT
Last source update
18 Dec 2025, 14:52 GMT
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 27 Jul 2026
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-084489
Latest notice
Planned procurement notice (UK3)
Classification (CPV)
Courier services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f963 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Requests to participate (first stage)
17 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
Submission deadline
17 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
Clarification deadline
31 Mar 2026, 23:59 BST
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en

Timeline

18 Dec 2025 → 27 Jul 2026 · 6 dates
  1. Planning notice published308 days ago
    18 Dec 2025, 14:52 GMT
  2. Tender notice expected212 days ago
    23 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
  3. Clarification questions by204 days ago
    31 Mar 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Submission deadline187 days ago
    17 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract starts87 days ago
    27 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
  6. Award decision expected by86 days ago
    27 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Planned procurement notice published
    18 Dec 2025, 14:52 GMT
    UK3

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

BRITISH COUNCIL(THE)

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-COH: RC000060 · GB-PPON: PHTN-1551-GCQH 1 Redman Place, Stratford,, London, London, E20 1JQContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure