Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Oct 2026, 16:08 BST

Official UK procurement notice

PRE-MARKET ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (PME) for CAT-26-002 Sustainable Catering Disposables and Packaging

Authority: the Education Authority (Central government)

GoodsSME suitableVCSE suitable
Published estimate£6,000,000≈ £3.0m / year · £7,200,000 inc. VAT
Tender notice expected 11 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsup to 4 yrs with extensions · starts 1 Jun 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This is not a tender exercise by the Education Authority. 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 sustainable catering disposables and packaging products . 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 and PME Document signed and returned via the Messaging function of eTendersNI by no later than 3pm on Wednesday 21 October 2026 (deadline) in accordance with the instructions detailed in the PME Questionnaire document. There are no formal tender documents to be completed other than the questionnaire.

CPV: Catering supplies · Disposable catering supplies

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Lot 1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Jun 2027 — 31 May 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 4 yrs with extensionsEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions
Extension options published
39222000 Catering supplies39222100 Disposable catering supplies

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
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
6 Oct 2026, 16:08 BST
Last source update
6 Oct 2026, 16:08 BST
Authority reference
CAT-26-002
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Catering suppliesDisposable catering supplies
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0781fa

How it was run

Submission deadline
—

Timeline

4 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Planning notice publishedjust passed
    6 Oct 2026, 16:08 BST
  2. Market engagementin 15 days
    21 Oct 2026, 23:59 BSTPRE-MARKET ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (PME) for Sustainable Catering Disposables and Packaging products for the Education Authority. Interested suppliers are asked to complete and return the questionnaire.
  3. Tender notice expectedin 97 days
    11 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract startsin 237 days
    1 Jun 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

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Oct 2026, 16:08 BSTUK2

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 2NQ

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure