Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 18 May 2026, 15:19 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Microscopes for Western Health and Social Care Trust Haematology Consultants

Procurement agent: Regional Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service·On behalf of: Western Health & Social Care Trust

GoodsBelow threshold
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 30 Sept 2027 · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Business Services Organisation (BSO) Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS), on behalf of the Buyer, Western Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland, are inviting the market to provide information on the supply and delivery of microscopes for their Haematology Consultants based in Altnagelvin Hospital. The Haematology laboratory's main purpose is to diagnose blood related conditions and ensure safe, efficient blood transfusion support, contributing directly to patient care across the hospital and wider community. With this diagnostic service, the department ensures timely results essential for treatment decisions.

CPV: Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) · Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products · Optical microscopes

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Western Health & Social Care Trust buys Astronomical and optical instruments (CPV 3863), and who usually turns up

Western Health & Social Care Trust’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: Astronomical and optical instruments (CPV 3863) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerWestern Health & Social Care Trust · 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: 1 of 14 known-size awards · market: CPV 3863 · UK-wide, n=27
7%44%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 17 known-location awards · market: CPV 3863 · UK-wide, n=25
6%36%

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: no decision dates published · market: CPV 3863 · UK-wide, n=7
—52 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 52 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 18 of 18 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3863 · UK-wide, n=64
100%59%

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 buyerNo bid counts published
The market16 lots with bid counts · CPV 3863 · UK-wide
19% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid19%
Market: 3 of 16 lots with published bid counts.
2–369%
Market: 11 of 16 lots with published bid counts.
4–613%
Market: 2 of 16 lots with published bid counts.
7+0%
Market: 0 of 16 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 buyerNo estimate-and-award pairs published
The market10 lots with estimate and award · CPV 3863 · UK-wide
70% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate70%
Market: 7 of 10 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%10%
Market: 1 of 10 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20%
Market: 2 of 10 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 386312 monthsEstimate not published
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 46 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet33% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 46 similar lots
1 bid33%
15 of 46 similar past lots received 1 bid (33%).
2–330%
14 of 46 similar past lots received 2–3 (30%).
4–67%
3 of 46 similar past lots received 4–6 (7%).
7+30%
14 of 46 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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
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
18 May 2026, 15:19 BST
Last source update
18 May 2026, 15:19 BST
Authority reference
6534488
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-045411
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care productsOptical microscopes
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069b1c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

18 May 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published164 days ago
    18 May 2026, 15:19 BST
  2. Market engagement149 days ago
    1 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST

    This process will include an explanatory document which will outline how the information is requested and the use of a questionnaire with specific questions to be completed by interested suppliers.

    The CP12 Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire can be obtained by contacting [email protected] and requesting documents for Tender 6534488 Microscopes for WHSCT Haematology Consultants.

    Important Deadlines

    Submission deadline - All completed questionnaires for this Preliminary Market Engagement must be submitted by 15:00 on 01/06/2026. They should be returned to [email protected] before the above mentioned date and time.

    Please note - Submissions received after this deadline will not be considered.

  3. Contract starts28 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 May 2026, 15:19 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

3 public bodies on the notice

Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service

Procurement agentPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PWNJ-1991-NGDW 77 Boucher Crescent, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT12 6HUContact email

Clients of the procurement agent

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure