Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 12 Oct 2026, 10:52 BST

Official UK procurement notice

PRE-MARKET ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (PME) for Ambient and Chilled Grocery Products for Education Authority NI

Official notice

Authority: Education Authority (Central government)

GoodsBelow thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Food, beverages, tobacco and related products (15)+6 more Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£67,500,000pipeline notice — not a live tender
Tender notice expected 4 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 30 Jun 2031 · up to 30 Jun 2033 with extensions · starts 1 Jul 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) wishes to engage with the market to seek their views on establishing a robust, value for money contract for the provision of Ambient and Chilled Grocery Products and Fresh Muffins. Any information gathered through this market consultation exercise will inform internal business planning and any possible subsequent procurement process and will NOT be appraised in any future tender evaluation exercise. Please note that participation or non-participation in this preliminary market consultation exercise shall not prevent any supplier from participating in any potential procurement process, nor is it intended that any information supplied shall place any supplier at an advantage or disadvantage in any forthcoming procurement process. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of a formal procurement process. Suppliers who wish to participate in the market engagement exercise should complete the pre-market engagement questionnaire. Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from CfT documents. The Questionnaire must be completed no later than 3pm on the closing date detailed in the PME Questionnaire document. There are no formal tender documents to be completed other than the questionnaire.

CPV: Coffee, tea and related products · Condiments and seasonings · Food, beverages, tobacco and related products · Miscellaneous food products · Pasta products · Rusks and biscuits; preserved pastry goods and cakes · Sugar and related products

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 4 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Jul 2027 — 30 Jun 2031 (up to 30 Jun 2033 with extensions) · up to 6 yrs with extensionsEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions
Extension options published
15000000 Food, beverages, tobacco and related products15800000 Miscellaneous food products15820000 Rusks and biscuits; preserved pastry goods and cakes15830000 Sugar and related products15850000 Pasta products15860000 Coffee, tea and related products

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
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
12 Oct 2026, 10:52 BST
Last source update
12 Oct 2026, 10:52 BST
Authority reference
CAT-26-001
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-095958
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Coffee, tea and related productsCondiments and seasoningsFood, beverages, tobacco and related productsMiscellaneous food productsPasta productsRusks and biscuits; preserved pastry goods and cakesSugar and related products
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078560 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

4 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Planning notice published1 day ago
    12 Oct 2026, 10:52 BST
  2. Market engagementin 18 days
    30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMTPre-Market Engagement Questionnaire (PME) for the provision of Ambient and Chilled Grocery Products for the Education Authority and NI Educational Bodies. Interested Suppliers are asked to complete and return the questionnaire available via the eTendersNI messaging portal no later than 3pm on 30 October 2026.
  3. Tender notice expectedin 84 days
    4 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract startsin 261 days
    1 Jul 2027, 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

Notice history

2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 12 Oct 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    12 Oct 2026, 10:52 BSTUK2
  2. First planning notice published
    12 Oct 2026, 10:52 BST

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

The Education Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PPHJ-6982-JPXY 40 Academy Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 2NQContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure