Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 30 Mar 2026, 12:30 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Outplacement Provider · UK public procurement notice

Authority: University of Exeter (Central government)

ServicesBelow threshold
Planned pipeline value£160,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 30 May 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrs 9 moends 1 Apr 2029 · up to 1 Jul 2029 with extensions · starts 1 Jul 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

From time to time the University implements structural changes when staff are offered the opportunity to leave the employment of the University on favourable severance terms. In these circumstances, leavers are offered outplacement support at the University’s cost. We are currently reviewing the provision of outplacement services. The aims of the service are for the individual whose employment is ended to be supported in seeking future work opportunities and/or managing the impact of the change on their life/finances. The service should provide basic individual support (expected to be a maximum of a half a day per person) which will normally include a one-to-one/face-to-face meeting (for example via Teams, Zoom or FaceTime) supported by appropriate on-line tools and advice. The support should be able to be personalised according to the needs of the individual. The University can provide no guarantee of numbers to be supported or timescales. This would depend on any future restructuring needs of the University. The provider needs to be able to scale up and down provision, with no guarantee of minimum numbers.

CPV: Career guidance services · Placement services of personnel · Staff development services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrs 9 mo
Contract period: 1 Jul 2026 – 1 Apr 2029 (2 yrs 9 mo) · up to 1 Jul 2029 with extensions
Delivery: South West
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 University of Exeter buys Personnel services except placement and supply services (CPV 7963), and who usually turns up

University of Exeter’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: Personnel services except placement and supply services (CPV 7963) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUniversity of Exeter · division 79
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: 10 of 21 known-size awards · market: CPV 7963 · South West England, n=29
48%28%

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 South West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 9 known-location awards · market: CPV 7963 · South West England, n=27
11%33%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South West England.

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: 18 decided notices · market: CPV 7963 · South West England, n=6
45 days52 days

Half of these awards were announced within 45 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 21 of 27 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7963 · South West England, n=38
78%61%

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 buyer24 lots with bid counts · all categories
33% had one bid
The market7 lots with bid counts · CPV 7963 · South West England
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid33% / 14%
Buyer: 8 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
2–321% / 14%
Buyer: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 57%
Buyer: 6 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
7+21% / 14%
Buyer: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 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 buyer19 lots with estimate and award · all categories
47% below estimate
The market6 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7963 · South West England
67% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate47% / 67%
Buyer: 9 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%47% / 17%
Buyer: 9 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate5% / 17%
Buyer: 1 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 6 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 796333 monthsPublished estimate£160k
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 186 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet9% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 186 similar lots
1 bid9%
16 of 186 similar past lots received 1 bid (9%).
2–318%
34 of 186 similar past lots received 2–3 (18%).
4–631%
57 of 186 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+42%
79 of 186 similar past lots received 7+ (42%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 6 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 £160k, 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
30 Mar 2026, 12:30 BST
Last source update
30 Mar 2026, 12:30 BST
Authority reference
UOE_2026_102_JT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-029046
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Career guidance servicesPlacement services of personnelStaff development services
Delivery area
South West (UKK4)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0677b8 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

30 Mar 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published206 days ago
    30 Mar 2026, 12:30 BST
  2. Market engagement188 days ago
    17 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  3. Tender notice expected145 days ago
    30 May 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts114 days ago
    1 Jul 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Mar 2026, 12:30 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

University of Exeter

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PZYG-2396-XCRZ Northcote House, Exeter, South West, EX4 4QHContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure