Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 8 Jul 2026, 16:34 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Market Engagement Event for FCDO Overseas Estates Programme

Authority: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Central government)

WorksAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term Ends 28 Jul 2026starts 28 Jul 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is inviting industry participation in an upcoming supplier engagement event focused on its overseas estate management and construction programme.

The FCDO manages one of the UK Government’s largest and most complex international property portfolios, comprising more than 5,900 properties across 179 countries and 282 diplomatic Posts. Valued at approximately £2.4 billion, the estate encompasses a diverse range of assets, including diplomatic compounds, offices, historic buildings, residential accommodation, leased properties and multi-tenanted facilities.

This global estate is critical to the delivery of UK Government objectives and requires sustained investment in construction, refurbishment, maintenance, compliance and infrastructure programmes. Projects are delivered in a wide variety of operating environments and market conditions, often involving complex security, regulatory, logistical and commercial challenges.

This session is intended to provide early insight into the scale and complexity of delivering projects across global locations, alongside the operational challenges associated with international delivery. It will also offer an opportunity for organisations to share views on how future delivery models and procurement approaches can be shaped under the Procurement Act 2023.

Purpose of the Engagement

FCDO is progressing plans to strengthen its approach to delivering a significant portfolio of overseas estate maintenance and construction projects. These programmes vary in scale and complexity and are often delivered in challenging operational environments across multiple international locations. The forthcoming event will:

  • Provide early visibility of the scale, pipeline, and complexity of our overseas estates programme
  • Set out the delivery challenges and constraints associated with operating internationally (e.g. logistics, security, supply chain resilience, local compliance)
  • Enable open dialogue with the market to inform how FCDO shapes future delivery models and approaches under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23)
  • Gather structured industry feedback to help us design more effective, accessible, and competitive procurement approaches

We are keen to engage with organisations experienced in international construction, design and facilities management, programme delivery, and experience operating in complex environments.

The event will be hosted on 28th July 2026 between 1pm-4pm, location:

FCDO London office

King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

United Kingdom

CPV: Architectural services for buildings · Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services · Architectural, engineering and planning services · Building and facilities management services · Building completion work · Building construction work · Building installation work · Construction consultancy services · Construction project management services · Construction work · Engineering services · Facilities management services · +1 more

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office buys Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999), and who usually turns up

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’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: Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bidWhat 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: 15 of 57 known-size awards · market: CPV 7999 · Greater London, n=49
26%35%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 2 known-location awards · market: CPV 7999 · Greater London, n=54
1 of 243%

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: 12 decided notices · market: CPV 7999 · Greater London, n=12
97 days60 days

Half of these awards were announced within 97 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 16 of 81 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7999 · Greater London, n=57
20%47%

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 buyer39 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 79
13% had one bid
The market26 lots with bid counts · CPV 7999 · Greater London
12% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 12%
Buyer: 5 of 39 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
2–362% / 35%
Buyer: 24 of 39 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
4–621% / 46%
Buyer: 8 of 39 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
7+5% / 8%
Buyer: 2 of 39 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 26 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 buyer13 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 79
23% below estimate
The market20 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7999 · Greater London
50% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate23% / 50%
Buyer: 3 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 20 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%31% / 40%
Buyer: 4 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 20 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate46% / 10%
Buyer: 6 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 20 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 7999SME suitableNo real estimate
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 26 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet12% single-bid risk
Past bids on 26 similar lots
1 bid12%
3 of 26 similar past lots received 1 bid (12%).
2–335%
9 of 26 similar past lots received 2–3 (35%).
4–646%
12 of 26 similar past lots received 4–6 (46%).
7+8%
2 of 26 similar past lots received 7+ (8%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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 real estimate
The buyer published £0 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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
Works
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
8 Jul 2026, 16:34 BST
Last source update
8 Jul 2026, 16:34 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-064389
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Architectural services for buildingsArchitectural, construction, engineering and inspection servicesArchitectural, engineering and planning servicesBuilding and facilities management servicesBuilding completion workBuilding construction workBuilding installation workConstruction consultancy servicesConstruction project management servicesConstruction work
+3 moreEngineering servicesFacilities management services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c8 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

8 Jul 2026 → 28 Jul 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published105 days ago
    8 Jul 2026, 16:34 BST
  2. Market engagement95 days ago
    17 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    If you would like to register for this event, please complete the registration form (forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx ↗). Please confirm attendance by 17th July 2026.

    Please note that attendance is limited to one representative per organisation.

  3. Contract starts85 days ago
    28 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    8 Jul 2026, 16:34 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

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PXRR-8771-PHVX King Charles Street, London, London, SW1A 2AHContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure