Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 7 Jul 2026, 16:54 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries

Authority: Northern Lighthouse Board (Central government)

GoodsAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£950,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 29 Jul 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrs 1 moends 31 Oct 2031 · starts 16 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

We are looking to award a 5 year contract for the supply of Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries to NLB, for implementation by NLB at their remote lighthouse locations in Scotland, its islands and the isle of Man to help power the Aids to Navigation (AtoN).

We are inviting expressions of interest from suppliers who can provide bespoke Nickel Metal Hydride batteries that meet the key technical, and environmental requirements of NLB, a brief outline is below:

-Options of both 12V/100AH and 2.4V/500AH batteries

-Comprising of no more than 10 parallel cells

Full specifications will be given in the Tender documents.

Estimated timeline

Tender documents live - By end July 2026

Tender submission deadline - End August 2026

Tender Award - Estimated October 2026

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

nlb.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Edinbu… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

nlb.delta-esourcing.com/respond/758342WV59 ↗

CPV: Battery packs

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 5 yrs 1 mo
Contract period: 16 Oct 2026 – 31 Oct 2031 (5 yrs 1 mo)
Delivery: Scotland

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Northern Lighthouse Board buys Primary batteries (CPV 3142), and who usually turns up

Northern Lighthouse Board’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: Primary batteries (CPV 3142) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNorthern Lighthouse Board · division 31
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: 2 of 3 known-size awards · market: CPV 3142 · UK-wide, n=5
2 of 320%

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 Scotland.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no winner locations published · market: division 31 · Scotland, n=7
—43%

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: division 31 · UK-wide, n=104
—28 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 28 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 1 of 5 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3142 · UK-wide, n=9
20%67%

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 buyer25 lots with bid counts · all categories
12% had one bid
The market11 lots with bid counts · division 31 · Scotland
9% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid12% / 9%
Buyer: 3 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 11 lots with published bid counts.
2–344% / 55%
Buyer: 11 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 11 lots with published bid counts.
4–636% / 27%
Buyer: 9 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 11 lots with published bid counts.
7+8% / 9%
Buyer: 2 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 11 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 buyer25 lots with estimate and award · all categories
60% below estimate
The market10 lots with estimate and award · division 31 · Scotland
70% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate60% / 70%
Buyer: 15 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 10 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%36% / 20%
Buyer: 9 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 10 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate4% / 10%
Buyer: 1 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 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 314261 monthsPublished estimate£950k
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 11 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet9% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 11 similar lots
1 bid9%
1 of 11 similar past lots received 1 bid (9%).
2–355%
6 of 11 similar past lots received 2–3 (55%).
4–627%
3 of 11 similar past lots received 4–6 (27%).
7+9%
1 of 11 similar past lots received 7+ (9%).
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £950k, 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
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
7 Jul 2026, 16:54 BST
Last source update
7 Jul 2026, 16:54 BST
Authority reference
ENPR/BATT/2683
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-063845
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Battery packs
Delivery area
Scotland (UKM)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c5a7 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

7 Jul 2026 → 16 Oct 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published109 days ago
    7 Jul 2026, 16:54 BST
  2. Market engagement100 days ago
    16 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    Please contact [email protected] to register interest or for more information by Thursday 16th July 2026.

  3. Tender notice expected87 days ago
    29 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts9 days ago
    16 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    7 Jul 2026, 16:54 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

Northern Lighthouse Board

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PMGV-7529-QWXG 84 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 3DAContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure