Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 20 Aug 2026, 12:01 BST

Official UK procurement notice

IR Camera · UK public procurement notice

Authority: UK Atomic Energy Authority (Central government)

GoodsSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£250,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 14 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 31 Mar 2028 · starts 31 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This camera/software is to be used on a high heat flux test facility, looking at metallic samples that are induction heated to the stated temperature range. The sample will be in a vacuum vessel and viewed by the camera via a window. The wavelength range comes from the window the camera must see through, although the window could be changed. A set of requirements has also been generated and attached to this notice, it is requested that interested organisations respond through acknowledging whether they can meet the set out requirements via an excel spreadsheet. the value for this piece is an estimation, and the project team would like to use this PMEN to gauge a rough value for the project from responses. responses should be formatted as excel spreadsheets outlining whether or not your company can meet the requirements set out in the attached specifications document. additionally if you feel like you can meet the requirement in a different way, please also state this.

CPV: Cameras · Digital cameras · Industry specific software package · Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) · Miscellaneous software package and computer systems · Photographic equipment

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How UK Atomic Energy Authority buys Photographic equipment (CPV 3865), and who usually turns up

UK Atomic Energy Authority’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: Photographic equipment (CPV 3865) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUK Atomic Energy Authority · division 38
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: 3 of 4 known-size awards · market: CPV 3865 · South East England, n=5
3 of 420%

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 South East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 7 known-location awards · market: CPV 3865 · South East England, n=6
43%33%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South East England.

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: 3 decided notices · market: division 38 · South East England, n=29
14 days36 days

Half of these awards were announced within 14 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 10 of 13 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3865 · South East England, n=8
77%25%

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 buyer37 lots with bid counts · all categories
24% had one bid
The market6 lots with bid counts · CPV 3865 · UK-wide
50% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid24% / 50%
Buyer: 9 of 37 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
2–338% / 33%
Buyer: 14 of 37 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
4–616% / 0%
Buyer: 6 of 37 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
7+22% / 17%
Buyer: 8 of 37 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 6 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 buyer30 lots with estimate and award · all categories
40% below estimate
The market5 lots with estimate and award · CPV 3865 · UK-wide
40% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate40% / 40%
Buyer: 12 of 30 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%37% / 20%
Buyer: 11 of 30 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate23% / 40%
Buyer: 7 of 30 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 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 386512 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£250k
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 39 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 39 similar lots
1 bid8%
3 of 39 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–377%
30 of 39 similar past lots received 2–3 (77%).
4–613%
5 of 39 similar past lots received 4–6 (13%).
7+3%
1 of 39 similar past lots received 7+ (3%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 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 £250k, 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
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
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
20 Aug 2026, 12:01 BST
Last source update
20 Aug 2026, 12:01 BST
Authority reference
T/072DB/26
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-079397
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
CamerasDigital camerasIndustry specific software packageLaboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)Miscellaneous software package and computer systemsPhotographic equipment
Delivery area
South East (UKJ)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e877 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Aug 2026 → 31 Mar 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published63 days ago
    20 Aug 2026, 12:01 BST
  2. Market engagement28 days ago
    23 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
  3. Tender notice expected7 days ago
    14 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    22 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 160 days
    31 Mar 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Aug 2026, 12:01 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

UK Atomic Energy Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PLJV-1169-JTDD Culham Science Centre, Oxfordshire, South East, OX14 3DBContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure