Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 21 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

MBC Archbishops Palace - Supplier Engagement

Authority: Maidstone Borough Council (Local council)

WorksBelow threshold
Sectors: Construction & Civil Engineering (45) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£1pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 moends 31 Mar 2026 · starts 1 Mar 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Maidstone Borough Council is inviting interested parties to take part in a supplier engagement process regarding the proposed refurbishment of the Archbishop’s Palace, Mill Street Maidstone ME15 6YE.

At this stage the Council is undecided about how best to procure the proposed building works bearing in mind the heritage importance of the building and the consents required for certain works. The Council is also looking for ideas to incorporate some value engineering in the design of the proposed refurbishment works to ensure the works are within budget and value for money.

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

www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/tenders/UK-UK-Maidst… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/respond/DPTR4C68VR ↗

CPV: Overhaul and refurbishment work · Refurbishment of run-down buildings · Refurbishment work

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Maidstone Borough Council buys Other building completion work (CPV 4545), and who usually turns up

Maidstone Borough Council’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: Other building completion work (CPV 4545) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerMaidstone Borough Council · division 45
The marketOther building completion work (CPV 4545) · South East England (authority’s region)
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: 4 of 7 known-size awards · market: CPV 4545 · South East England (authority’s region), n=103
57%85%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South East England (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 6 known-location awards · market: CPV 4545 · South East England (authority’s region), n=138
33%49%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 decided notices · market: CPV 4545 · South East England (authority’s region), n=23
61 days37 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 61 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 2 of 10 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4545 · South East England (authority’s region), n=153
20%18%

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 buyer12 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 45
25% had one bid
The market28 lots with bid counts · CPV 4545 · South East England (authority’s region)
21% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid25% / 21%
Buyer: 3 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
2–342% / 4%
Buyer: 5 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 32%
Buyer: 3 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
7+8% / 43%
Buyer: 1 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 28 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 buyer14 lots with estimate and award · all categories
71% below estimate
The market28 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4545 · South East England (authority’s region)
36% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate71% / 36%
Buyer: 10 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%21% / 29%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate7% / 36%
Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 28 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 451 monthNo real estimate

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 45. The comparison uses that group.

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 316 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 316 similar lots
1 bid13%
40 of 316 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–322%
71 of 316 similar past lots received 2–3 (22%).
4–629%
91 of 316 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+36%
114 of 316 similar past lots received 7+ (36%).
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 real estimate
The buyer published £1 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
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
21 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
Last source update
21 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005333
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Overhaul and refurbishment workRefurbishment of run-down buildingsRefurbishment work
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060b2f Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

21 Jan 2026 → 1 Mar 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published279 days ago
    21 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
  2. Market engagement263 days ago
    6 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Maidstone Borough Council is inviting interested parties to take part in a supplier engagement process regarding the proposed refurbishment of the Archbishop’s Palace, Mill Street Maidstone ME15 6YE.

    At this stage the Council is undecided about how best to procure the proposed building works bearing in mind the heritage importance of the building and the consents required for certain works. The Council is also looking for ideas to incorporate some value engineering in the design of the proposed refurbishment works to ensure the works are within budget and value for money.

  3. Contract starts241 days ago
    1 Mar 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    21 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
    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

Maidstone Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PGRT-5366-CGWY Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, South East, ME15 6JQContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure