Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Jun 2026, 15:25 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Meta-analysis of the variability of hemp (Cannabis sativa)

Authority: The Food Standards Agency (Central government)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Research & Development (R&D) (73)Business Services & Consultancy (79) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£50,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 27 Jul 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 moends 31 Jan 2027 · up to 31 Mar 2027 with extensions · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is seeking early market input to inform a potential future procurement relating to the analysis of variation in the composition of hemp (Cannabis sativa).

This work forms part of the FSA Novel Foods Programme and would contribute evidence to protect consumers from unacceptable risks associated with food consumption and to safeguards their interests in relation to food.

This is not a call for competition.

The purpose is to:

  • Test feasibility
  • Understand market capability
  • Inform potential future procurement design
  • Details provided are subject to change.

Premarket engagement for Additional Analytical Methods for NDNS Biomonitoring.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is seeking early market input to inform a potential future procurement relating to the development of analytical methods to support biomonitoring of food additives and chemical contaminants.

This work forms part of the FSA Chemical Hazards Programme and aims to improve understanding of UK consumer exposure through novel biomonitoring approaches.

The information gathered will be used solely to shape the FSA’s understanding of the market and to refine a potential future competitive procurement. Participation is voluntary, and non-participation will not disadvantage suppliers in any subsequent procurement process.

All documents and communication for FSA funded projects must be submitted through the health-family single e-Commercial System (Atamis), using the following link: health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗

CPV: Market research services · Research and development consultancy services · Research and development services and related consultancy services · Social research services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 4 moSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Oct 2026 – 31 Jan 2027 (4 mo) · up to 31 Mar 2027 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How The Food Standards Agency buys Market research services (CPV 7931), and who usually turns up

The Food Standards Agency’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: Market research services (CPV 7931) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerThe Food Standards Agency · division 79
The marketMarket research services (CPV 7931) · Yorkshire and the Humber (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: 0 of 12 known-size awards · market: CPV 7931 · Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region), n=39
0%44%

No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.

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 Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no winner locations published · market: CPV 7931 · Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region), n=46
—20%

No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in 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: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7931 · Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region), n=13
—30 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 30 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 10 of 15 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7931 · Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region), n=69
67%52%

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 buyer20 lots with bid counts · all categories
55% had one bid
The market18 lots with bid counts · CPV 7931 · Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region)
17% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid55% / 17%
Buyer: 11 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 18 lots with published bid counts.
2–330% / 28%
Buyer: 6 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 18 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 17%
Buyer: 2 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 18 lots with published bid counts.
7+5% / 39%
Buyer: 1 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 18 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 buyer22 lots with estimate and award · all categories
55% below estimate
The market21 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7931 · Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region)
52% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate55% / 52%
Buyer: 12 of 22 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%32% / 24%
Buyer: 7 of 22 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate14% / 24%
Buyer: 3 of 22 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 21 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 79314 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£50k
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 18 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet17% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 18 similar lots
1 bid17%
3 of 18 similar past lots received 1 bid (17%).
2–328%
5 of 18 similar past lots received 2–3 (28%).
4–617%
3 of 18 similar past lots received 4–6 (17%).
7+39%
7 of 18 similar past lots received 7+ (39%).
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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £50k, 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
9 Jun 2026, 15:25 BST
Last source update
9 Jun 2026, 15:25 BST
Authority reference
C452326
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-054381
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Market research servicesResearch and development consultancy servicesResearch and development services and related consultancy servicesSocial research services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06b10c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Jun 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published137 days ago
    9 Jun 2026, 15:25 BST
  2. Market engagement109 days ago
    7 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    The FSA is seeking a literature review and meta-analysis of compositional variation in Cannabis sativa (hemp).

    The FSA is seeking a supplier to deliver a literature review and additional meta-analysis to provide a baseline understanding of compositional variation in Cannabis sativa (hemp), and whether variation is meaningful for safety within the wider natural variation. This will support interpretation of compositional data from CBD novel food applications and contribute directly to the FSA’s strategic priority of risk analysis informed by evidence to protect consumers from unacceptable risks associated with food consumption and to safeguard their interests in relation to food.

    The information gathered will be used solely to shape the FSA’s understanding of the market and to refine a potential future competitive procurement. Participation is voluntary, and non-participation will not disadvantage suppliers in any subsequent procurement process.

    All documents and communication for FSA funded projects must be submitted through the health-family single e-Commercial System (Atamis), using the following link: health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗

  3. Tender notice expected89 days ago
    27 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts24 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Jun 2026, 15:25 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

Food Standards Agency

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PJRM-6866-LYYX YO1 7PR, York, Yorkshire & Humber, YO1 7PRContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure