Official UK procurement notice
Overseas Educational Travel Services
Authority: The City of Edinburgh Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe City of Edinburgh Council is publishing this Prior Information Notice to advise the market of its intention to tender a contract for the provision of Overseas Educational Travel Services and to invite engagement from suitably qualified and experienced providers ahead of a formal procurement exercise.
CPV: Air transport services · Hotel accommodation services · Organisation of package tours · Travel agency and similar services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1The services will support overseas curriculum-linked trips and educational visits…Planned
The services will support overseas curriculum-linked trips and educational visits undertaken by pupils attending Edinburgh primary and secondary schools. The scope is expected to include:
End-to-end itinerary design, coordination, and management for overseas school trips
Booking and management of transport (air, rail, and coach as appropriate)
Sourcing and quality assurance of accommodation suitable for school groups
Organisation of excursions, cultural visits, and curriculum-linked activities
Preparation of destination-specific risk assessments and travel safety documentation
Arrangement of appropriate travel insurance covering pupils, accompanying staff, and supervisors
24-hour in-trip emergency support and crisis management capability
Compliance with all relevant child protection, safeguarding, and health and safety requirements applicable in Scotland
Trips will be principally within Europe, though the contract may also accommodate occasional longer-haul visits. The City of Edinburgh Council operates a sizeable school estate of over 100 primary and secondary schools across the city.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How The City of Edinburgh Council buys Travel agency and similar services (CPV 6351), and who usually turns up
The City of Edinburgh Council’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: Travel agency and similar services (CPV 6351) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Scotland.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 42 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid35% / 25%
2–353% / 25%
4–612% / 31%
7+0% / 19%
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.
Below estimate0% / 13%
Within ±2%80% / 63%
Above estimate20% / 25%
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.
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 #1The services will support overseas curriculum-linked trips and educational visits…CPV 6351Estimate not published
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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 12 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–325%
4–633%
7+33%
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.
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.
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.
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 · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 21 Jul 2026, 16:27 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Jul 2026, 16:27 BST
- Authority reference
CT1849- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-068852- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d032Find a Tender
Publisher note: Interested organisations should note interest and may be contacted for further follow up information prior to a tender process. It is expected that any formal procurement will require tenderers to demonstrate, as a minimum: Valid ATOL protection and ABTA membership (or equivalent bonding and consumer protection arrangements) sufficient to cover the services provided Compliance with the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 Demonstrable experience of designing and delivering overseas group travel for school-age children on behalf of local authorities or equivalent public sector clients Robust safeguarding, child protection, and group supervision procedures — including, in respect of any staff engaging in regulated roles with children, compliance with the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 and the mandatory PVG scheme membership requirement in force from April 2025 Comprehensive public liability, employers' liability, and professional indemnity insurance at levels proportionate to the contract value Clear escalation and 24/7 emergency response protocols for incidents occurring overseas Hold current STF Assured Membership, or be able to demonstrate equivalent independently audited safety management standards, financial protection, and educational travel competence as assessed against the STF Code of Practice NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=832866. (SC Ref:832866)
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
21 Jul 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published93 days ago21 Jul 2026, 16:27 BST
- Tender notice expected22 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
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
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.