Official UK procurement notice
PRELIMINARY MARKET ENGAGEMENT for: Customized Silicone & Colour 3D Printer
Authority: University of Nottingham (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis is a request for market interest for the build, supply, installation, commissioning, and training of a customized 3D printing system designed for multi-material silicone and colour deposition. The system will be used for research and prototyping purposes, enabling accurate deposition and controlled curing of silicone-based formulations with optional integration of coloured materials. It must support flexible printhead operation, temperature management, and programmable printing strategies.
The equipment should be compatible with existing laboratory infrastructure and allow for future upgrades (e.g., additional material printheads, support-material module, UV curing, or in-line inspection). The rig is intended to be fully operational by 01/06/2026 to align with ongoing research activities.
Further specification information can be obtained by contacting [email protected]
Expressions of interest will only be considered up to and including the 12th of November 2025.
CPV: Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) · Printers and plotters · Printing and graphics equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How University of Nottingham buys Computer-related equipment (CPV 3023), and who usually turns up
University of Nottingham has little published record in this market. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Computer-related equipment (CPV 3023) →
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.
Across this market, small firms won 14% of awards with a known supplier size.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Across this market, 0% of winners were registered in the delivery region.
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How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 25 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.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Across this market, at least 14% of awarded procurements had no recorded rival.
How many bids did past lots attract?
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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%
2–327%
4–620%
7+13%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate44%
Within ±2%44%
Above estimate11%
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 3023Published estimate£125k
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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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid40%
2–327%
4–620%
7+13%
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
- 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
- 29 Oct 2025, 13:45 GMT
- Last source update
- 29 Oct 2025, 13:45 GMT
- Authority reference
2546/SC- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-069389- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d644Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
29 Oct 2025 → 1 Dec 2025 · 3 dates- Planning notice published363 days ago29 Oct 2025, 13:45 GMT
- Market engagement349 days ago12 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
Expressions of interest and further specification information can be obtained by contacting Sabrina Cox, University of Nottingham Procurement Partner for Engineering using email address [email protected]
Expressions of interest will only be considered up to and including the 12th of November 2025.
- Contract starts331 days ago1 Dec 2025
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published29 Oct 2025, 13:45 GMTUK2
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