Official UK procurement notice
Pre Market Engagement Exercise for a Speech and Language Therapy Service for Nettlefield Primary School
Authority: Education Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe primary purpose of this preliminary market engagement exercise (“Exercise”) is for the Education Authority (EA) to outline and seek supplier views and feedback on potential approaches for the provision of a Speech and Language Therapy Service for Nettlefield Primary School. This is not a tender exercise by the Education Authority.
The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) wishes to engage with the market to gather views on the establishment of a robust, value for money Contract for the provision of a Speech and Language Therapy Service for Nettlefield Primary School. The anticipated contract period is from 1 March 2027 to 28th February 2029 (indicative), with options to extend for periods up to a further 24 months.
Any information gathered through this market consultation exercise will be used solely to inform internal business planning and any potential future procurement process. It will not be evaluated as part of any subsequent tender exercise. Participation or non participation in this preliminary market consultation will not preclude any supplier from taking part in any future procurement process, nor will any information submitted provide any supplier with an advantage or disadvantage. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase and not part of a formal procurement procedure.
Suppliers who wish to participate in the market engagement exercise should complete the pre-market engagement questionnaire available on eTendersNI under the unique reference EANI 5464. Further information, including the questionnaire, can be downloaded from the CfT documents. Completed questionnaires must be submitted via the Messaging function of eTendersNI no later than 3:00pm on Monday 26th October 2026. No additional tender documents are required at this stage beyond the questionnaire.
CPV: Health and social work services · Health services · Hospital and related services · Hospital services · Miscellaneous services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£258,000
- Value
- £258,000 exc. VAT · £309,600 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- The contract may be extended for an optional period up to and including 24 months subject to funding and scope of requirements.
- Condition of participationn/a
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
Lot awarding rule: This is a premarket engagement exercise. There is no award criteria associated with the pre market engagement exercise.
- Condition of participationn/a
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £257,647 (twice the annual value).
Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Education Authority buys Health services (CPV 8510) — and who usually turns up
Education Authority’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: Health services (CPV 8510) →
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 Northern Ireland.
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 bid29% / 27%
2–329% / 26%
4–639% / 18%
7+3% / 29%
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 estimate25% / 35%
Within ±2%64% / 57%
Above estimate11% / 8%
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 8510Published estimate£258k
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.
1 bid51%
2–326%
4–621%
7+1%
i
Where the winning price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
Based on 1 comparable award. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A guide, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£230k–£258k
Estimate£258k
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ||||
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1.7bn13 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 1 live iPublic 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 | |
| £1.1bn33 awards in 36m · last 2 months ago | 4 live · £199m iPublic 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=8 | |
| £17m12 awards in 36m · last this month | 3 live · £527k iPublic 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 | |
| £9.4m12 awards in 36m · last 3 months ago | 9 live · £9.2m iPublic 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=4 | |
Virgin Care LtdLarge | £1.9m3 awards in 36m · last 10 months ago | 1 live · £736k iPublic 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 |
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each figure explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
- Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
- “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 12 Oct 2026, 15:48 BST
- Last source update
- 12 Oct 2026, 15:48 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096204- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0785dbFind a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 26 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 26 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Electronic submission
- Not allowed
Timeline
4 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice published1 day ago12 Oct 2026, 15:48 BST
- Clarification questions byin 13 days26 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 13 days26 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Contract startsin 139 days1 Mar 2027
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 12 Oct 2026- Tender notice published12 Oct 2026, 15:48 BSTUK4
- First tender notice published12 Oct 2026, 15:48 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender