Official UK procurement notice
Preliminary Market Engagement for the Provision of Event Catering Services
Authority: Leicestershire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionPreliminary Market Engagement (PME)/soft market test related to the possible provision of event catering services at Beaumanor Hall, Woodhouse, Leicestershire.
Please note this is not an opportunity to tender but is an information gathering exercise to inform the Councils future requirement.
The Council has run the Hall since the 1970's and currently provides all catering services in-house. Catering is provided for a wide range pf daytime and evening events including weddings, christenings, birthday parties and other celebration events as well as corporate events such as away days and training courses.
Types of catering provided ranges from informal hot and cold buffet lunches to formal, sit down evening meals and wedding breakfasts.
The Council is considering outsourcing some of it's event catering services to external providers and the purpose of this preliminary market engagement exercise is to garner views and information from the market to inform the future requirements of the Council.
CPV: Catering services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Leicestershire County Council buys Catering services (CPV 5552), and who usually turns up
Leicestershire County Council’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: Catering services (CPV 5552) →
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 East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East 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 33 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 bid14% / 17%
2–320% / 31%
4–652% / 31%
7+14% / 20%
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 estimate9% / 19%
Within ±2%80% / 57%
Above estimate11% / 24%
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 5552Estimate not published
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 35 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid17%
2–331%
4–631%
7+20%
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
- 22 Jun 2026, 16:24 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Jun 2026, 16:24 BST
- Authority reference
DN819688- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-058660- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ba6cFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
22 Jun 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published120 days ago22 Jun 2026, 16:24 BST
- Market engagement104 days ago8 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
The PME will take place via the Councils electronic procurement platform East Midlands Tenders.
The PME survey document is available for download and completion via the platform accessed via the following link: www.eastmidstenders.org ↗
Providers wishing to take part in the PME exercise should register/log-in to the East Midlands Tenders portal via the above link and search for the PME using the reference DN819688.
Providers are required to download the PME document, complete it offline and then attach the completed document to the portal by the deadline time and date of 12:00 Noon on 08 July 2026.
Providers are able to raise clarification questions via the messaging facility of the portal. The deadline for raising clarification questions is 12:00 Noon on 02 July 2026.
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 103 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Jun 2026, 16:24 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
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