Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 25 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Preliminary Market Engagement for Training First Aid at Work

Authority: Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service (Central government)

Framework agreementServices
Sectors: Education & Training (80) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 2 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Framework period 2 yrsends 31 Jan 2029 · up to 31 Jan 2031 with extensions · starts 1 Feb 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This is a preliminary market engagement notice to inform and seek engagement with potential Suppliers for Training First Aid at Work for Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI).

CPV: Education and training services

How this framework works

From the published notice
Framework period
2 yrs · up to 4 yrs from 1 Feb 2027

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrs
Contract period: 1 Feb 2027 – 31 Jan 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 31 Jan 2031 with extensions
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
What this means for your bid
  • “Preliminary Market Engagement for Training First Aid at Work” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service buys Education and training services (CPV 80), and who usually turns up

Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Education and training services (CPV 80) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bidWhat to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 16 of 16 known-size awards · market: division 80 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=26
100%88%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Northern Ireland (authority’s region).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 4 known-location awards · market: division 80 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=45
3 of 496%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 20 decided notices · market: division 80 · UK-wide, n=61
33 days52 days

Half of these awards were announced within 33 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 1 of 8 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 80 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=7
13%14%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer160 lots with bid counts · all categories
8% had one bid
The market25 lots with bid counts · division 80 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region)
36% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid8% / 36%
Buyer: 12 of 160 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 25 lots with published bid counts.
2–322% / 20%
Buyer: 35 of 160 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 25 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 0%
Buyer: 53 of 160 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 25 lots with published bid counts.
7+38% / 44%
Buyer: 60 of 160 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 25 lots with published bid counts.

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.

On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.

2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #124 monthsNo real estimate
Expected competition
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 25 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet36% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 25 similar lots
1 bid36%
9 of 25 similar past lots received 1 bid (36%).
2–320%
5 of 25 similar past lots received 2–3 (20%).
4–60%
0 of 25 similar past lots received 4–6 (0%).
7+44%
11 of 25 similar past lots received 7+ (44%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—Priced at call-off
On a framework or DPS the price is agreed on each call-off, so there is no award price to forecast here: the published figure is a ceiling.

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.

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.

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
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
25 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST
Last source update
25 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST
Authority reference
6611977
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-080879
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Education and training services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06eba3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Appointment period ends
—

Timeline

25 Aug 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published58 days ago
    25 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST
  2. Market engagement43 days ago
    8 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    This is a Preliminary Market Engagement to inform and seek engagement with potential suppliers for First Aid at Work Training for Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI). To this end, BSO Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS) wish to engage with potential suppliers on behalf of HSCNI to obtain a market view of the potential requirements through a questionnaire. Any interested suppliers are required to submit their response through the eTendersNI secure messaging are of CfT 6611977. All correspondence in relation to this PME will be communicated via the secure eTendersNI messaging area. Suppliers will be required to return answers to the questionnaire and any comments no later than 15:00 on Tuesday 8 September 2026. Suppliers should also note that any interest shown does not constitute a commitment to participate in any future tendering exercise.

  3. Tender notice expected19 days ago
    2 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    22 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 102 days
    1 Feb 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    25 Aug 2026, 14:15 BST
    UK2

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

Regional Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PWNJ-1991-NGDW 73 Loughgall Road, Armagh, Northern Ireland, BT61 7PRContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure