Find a TenderOpen admission
Published 21 Feb 2025, 13:40 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

P-3187 Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) Supplies, and Plant Service and Repair Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

Authority: Translink (Public body)

Dynamic marketServicesRestricted procedure
Dynamic market estimate£500,000market-wide estimate, not attributable revenue
Admission open until 28 Feb 2029period end, not a bid countdown
Market period Ends 28 Feb 2029

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Translink will be creating a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) of pre-approved Economic Operators (EO) from which it will be able to procure spare parts and or the maintenance and repair of specialist NIR plant. Your proposal MUST be submitted within the eTendersNI portal, via this CfT. Your proposal MUST include a completed Generic Eligibility Criteria NO OTHER METHOD OF SUBMISSION WILL BE ACCEPTED.

CPV: Repair and maintenance services · Repair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment

How this dynamic market works

From the published notice
Type
Dynamic market

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1Published value£500,000

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
What this means for your bid
  • “P-3187 Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) Supplies, and Plant Service and…” is a dynamic market: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How Translink buys Repair and maintenance services (CPV 50), and who usually turns up

Translink’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Repair and maintenance services (CPV 50) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerTranslink · 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: 6 of 9 known-size awards · market: division 50 · Northern Ireland, n=42
67%57%

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 Northern Ireland.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 2 known-location awards · market: division 50 · Northern Ireland, n=23
1 of 226%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.

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: 3 decided notices · market: division 50 · UK-wide, n=79
157 days56 days

Half of these awards were announced within 157 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 1 of 9 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 50 · Northern Ireland, n=7
11%14%

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 buyer17 lots with bid counts · all categories
6% had one bid
The market36 lots with bid counts · division 50 · Northern Ireland
3% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid6% / 3%
Buyer: 1 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
2–329% / 42%
Buyer: 5 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
4–624% / 25%
Buyer: 4 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
7+41% / 31%
Buyer: 7 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 36 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.

On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.

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 #1Published estimate£500k
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.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

5expected bids4% chance of a single bid
forecast from 34 past contests
Forecast chances for this lot
1 bid4%
Chance this lot gets 1 bid: 4%. This is a forecast.
2–333%
Chance this lot gets 2–3: 33%. This is a forecast.
4–617%
Chance this lot gets 4–6: 17%. This is a forecast.
7+47%
Chance this lot gets 7+: 47%. This is a forecast.
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.

—Priced at call-off
On a framework or DPS the price is agreed on each call-off, so there is no award price to forecast here: the published figure is a ceiling.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
WILCOMATIC LIMITEDWorked for this buyerP-2767 Inspection and Maintenance of Bus and Train Washes 23-28notice published Sept 2023——Similar wording and category
Briggs Equipment Uk LtdWorked for this buyerP-2558 Inspection and Maintenance of Lifting Equipmentnotice published May 2023——Similar wording and category
W.A.C. MCCANDLESS ENGINEERS LTDWorked for this buyerFW105 Track Plant Maintenancenotice published May 2025——Similar wording and category
TK Elevator UK LimitedWorked for this buyerMC068 Lift and Escalator Maintenancenotice published Dec 2021——Similar wording and category
MCCLEAN ENGINEERING LTDWorked for this buyerP-2766 Inspection and Maintenance of TotalKare Liftsnotice published Nov 2023——Similar wording and category

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.

Restricted route (Stage 2 ITT / Shortlist): Bidding is restricted to invited candidates who qualified at Stage 1. Uninvited suppliers cannot participate in this round.
SupplierWon in this categoryLive contractsAward vs estimate
Buyer regular
—1 live
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

no comparable pairs
3 panel places
£7.2m12 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago5 live · £877k
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

2% below n=1
2 wins in Northern Ireland3 panel places
£1.2m10 awards in 36m · last 8 months ago8 live · £7.8m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

at estimate n=1
1 win in Northern Ireland
£923k1 awards in 36m · last 25 months agoNone on file3% above n=1
1 win in Northern Ireland1 panel places
1 awards in 36m · last 35 months agoNone on fileno comparable pairs
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
Procedure method
Restricted procedure
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0025 Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (Directive 2014/25/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Open admission
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Dynamic market
Who may use this agreement
Any qualifying supplier may apply while the market is open
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
21 Feb 2025, 13:40 GMT
Last source update
21 Feb 2025, 13:40 GMT
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-006752
Classification (CPV)
Repair and maintenance servicesRepair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN0)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04e692 Find a Tender

How to participate & submission route

Official notice Apply via eTendersNI
Submission portal named on this notice: eTendersNI · Who buys & how to bid on eTendersNI
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free Northern Ireland registration

Tender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://etendersni.gov.uk/ ↗

Requests to participate (first stage)
—
Admission period ends
28 Feb 2029
Clarification deadline
—
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission","written"}
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

21 Feb 2025 → 28 Feb 2029 · 2 dates
  1. Notice published
    21 Feb 2025, 13:40 GMT
  2. Today
    22 Oct 2026
  3. Admission / appointment period endsperiod end, not a bid countdown
    28 Feb 2029

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Nothing awarded yet
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Translink

Contracting authorityPublic bodyUrban railway, tramway, trolleybus or bus services Procurement Department, Belfast, UK, BT2 7LXContact name, email Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • The High CourtReview body Belfast

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
  • Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria