Official UK procurement notice
PAT Testing, Microwave and Minor Electrical Repairs
Authority: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (Central government)·Consortium: 7 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe scope of this requirement includes the provision of portable appliance testing (PAT) across all relevant electrical equipment, including associated labelling, certification, and maintenance of test records in line with statutory requirements. Microwave leakage testing is included where applicable, together with minor on‑the‑spot remedial repairs such as plug, fuse, or lead replacements to enable failed items to be returned to service where safe and permissible. The contract will also allow for reactive and fixed call‑outs to address ad‑hoc testing requirements, failed items, or compliance issues as they arise. All services are to be delivered by competent, suitably trained operatives and include timely reporting and clear identification of any items requiring further remedial action or removal from service.
This procurement will be for the following Trusts:
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.
CPV: Facilities management services · Health and safety services · Technical inspection and testing services · Technical inspection services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust buys Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131), and who usually turns up
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust’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: Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) →
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 West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in West 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 68 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 bid20% / 5%
2–310% / 23%
4–640% / 26%
7+30% / 46%
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 estimate32%
Within ±2%45%
Above estimate23%
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 7131Published estimate£1.1m
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 39 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid5%
2–323%
4–626%
7+46%
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
- 21 Apr 2026, 11:51 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Apr 2026, 11:51 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-036020- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068730Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
21 Apr 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published184 days ago21 Apr 2026, 11:51 BST
- Market engagement169 days ago6 May 2026, 23:59 BST
The Birmingham and Solihull / Black Country NHS procurement collaborative is considering a future procurement for Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) services across multiple NHS Trusts.
This preliminary market engagement is intended to inform the Authority’s approach to contract structure, lotting, and delivery model to ensure a competitive and deliverable procurement.
The Authority invites brief responses on the following:
Capacity: What scale of PAT testing (e.g. items per annum, number of sites) could you support?
Lotting / Contract Structure: If this opportunity was Lotted, would you prefer a) geographic lots, or b) individual Trust lots? Please briefly explain why.
Pricing and Volume: How does increased volume across multiple sites and Trusts impact your pricing (e.g. £ per item)?
Delivery Model: How would you resource and deliver services across multiple sites, including out-of-hours working?
Barriers: Are there any barriers to bidding for a larger, multi-Trust contract?
Response Instructions
Suppliers are invited to submit a brief response (no more than 1 page of A4) by email to [email protected] by 06/05/2026.
Responses should be concise and focused on the questions above. Marketing materials are not required.
- Tender notice expected157 days ago18 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts22 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 Apr 2026, 11:51 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
7 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- The Dudley Group NHS Foundation TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
- The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
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