Official UK procurement notice
PAN3539 - Debt Resolution Services
Authority: Leicester City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTHIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION
Leicester City Council (LCC) is undertaking a pre-market engagement exercise (PME) to inform the future procurement of a Debt Resolution Service by gathering information, ascertaining the level of interest, developing an appropriate specification and determining the procurement approach the Authority may take to appoint a Supplier. This exercise is aligned with the Procurement Act 2023, ensuring transparency, fairness, proportionality and value for money.
Leicester City Council invites Suppliers to respond to key questions to shape any future procurement activity in relation to Debt Resolution Service that it may procure. Suppliers are also requested to provide their pricing models for the Authority to consider (various options may be provided).
Suppliers shall note that this Pre Market Engagement Exercise (PME) is not a call for competition and responding to this Opportunity does not constitute a formal tender or result in the letting of a Contract. This PME process is being utilised to gauge interest and options. The Authority welcomes the opportunity to engage with Suppliers and appreciates your assistance in providing us with your views. However, Suppliers shall note that the Authority will have to comply with its legal obligations in any ensuing procurement exercise and that neither the intention nor the purpose of this PME is to confer any commercial advantage upon its participants.
Suppliers shall note that the estimated total value of the forthcoming procurement tender will be determined based on the outcomes of this PME exercise.
Further information about this exercise can be found in the PME documentation. Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 2 September 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTenders portal: procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗.
Any queries/questions regarding this opportunity must be received via the ProContract portal only.
To assist potential Suppliers, the link, supplierhelp.due-north.com ↗ provides helpful user guides on using the ProContract portal.
Furthermore, Suppliers will be required to register on the Central Digital Platform (a Find a Tender service) in any future tendering exercise. To assist prospective Suppliers, Cabinet Office have published video guides with accompanying PDF user manuals which will help Suppliers understand and navigate the platform, including how to register, upload organisational information and search and bid for opportunities. Please click on the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collectio… ↗
CPV: Collection agency services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Leicester City Council buys Collection agency services (CPV 7994), and who usually turns up
Leicester City 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: Collection agency services (CPV 7994) →
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 registered in East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East Midlands.
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 53 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 bid40% / 0%
2–320% / 22%
4–620% / 44%
7+20% / 33%
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 estimate29% / 43%
Within ±2%71% / 47%
Above estimate0% / 10%
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 #1CPV 7994Published estimate£1.0m
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 128 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–328%
4–622%
7+41%
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- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- 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
- 4 Aug 2026, 11:40 BST
- Last source update
- 4 Aug 2026, 11:40 BST
- Authority reference
PAN3539- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-073609- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06dafbFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
4 Aug 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published78 days ago4 Aug 2026, 11:40 BST
- Market engagement48 days ago2 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION
Leicester City Council (LCC) is undertaking a pre-market engagement exercise (PME) to inform the future procurement of a Debt Resolution Service by gathering information, ascertaining the level of interest, developing an appropriate specification and determining the procurement approach the Authority may take to appoint a Supplier. This exercise is aligned with the Procurement Act 2023, ensuring transparency, fairness, proportionality and value for money.
Leicester City Council invites Suppliers to respond to key questions to shape any future procurement activity in relation to Debt Resolution Service that it may procure. Suppliers are also requested to provide their pricing models for the Authority to consider (various options may be provided).
Suppliers shall note that this Pre Market Engagement Exercise (PME) is not a call for competition and responding to this Opportunity does not constitute a formal tender or result in the letting of a Contract. This PME process is being utilised to gauge interest and options. The Authority welcomes the opportunity to engage with Suppliers and appreciates your assistance in providing us with your views. However, Suppliers shall note that the Authority will have to comply with its legal obligations in any ensuing procurement exercise and that neither the intention nor the purpose of this PME is to confer any commercial advantage upon its participants.
Suppliers shall note that the estimated total value of the forthcoming procurement tender will be determined based on the outcomes of this PME exercise.
Further information about this exercise can be found in the PME documentation. Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 2 September 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTenders portal: procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗.
Late submissions and those received by any other means will not be accepted. Any queries/questions regarding this opportunity must be received via the ProContract portal only.
To assist potential Suppliers, the link, supplierhelp.due-north.com ↗ provides helpful user guides on using the ProContract portal.
Furthermore, Suppliers will be required to register on the Central Digital Platform (a Find a Tender service) in any future tendering exercise. To assist prospective Suppliers, Cabinet Office have published video guides with accompanying PDF user manuals which will help Suppliers understand and navigate the platform, including how to register, upload organisational information and search and bid for opportunities. Please click on the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collectio… ↗.
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 80 days8 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 162 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published4 Aug 2026, 11:40 BSTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender