Official UK procurement notice
Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for a Framework for Fitness Companies and/or Pool Based Fitness Companies to deliver exercise classes and other sessions in Leisure Facilities and Community Settings within County Durham
Authority: Durham County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Council are inviting suppliers to participate in preliminary engagement to gain insight from the market with the purpose of making any potential future framework opportunity well framed, feasible, focused and of likely interest to the market.
We are seeking interest from fitness companies, including gym based and pool based, who are interested in delivering exercise classes within our Leisure Facilities and Community Settings across County Durham. A variety of informal agreements are currently in place across the Council. We now intend to formalise these arrangements by establishing a new framework that will support improved consistency and quality.
This notice forms part of our preliminary market engagement, offering you the opportunity to share feedback and comments before the framework is released for formal tender submissions.
Please note the contract value is based on the total framework value over a 4 year period and is expected to include a range of providers, so this opportunity is particularly suitable for SMEs.
CPV: Sporting services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 1 Aug 2026
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
- “Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for a Framework for Fitness…” 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 Durham County Council buys Sporting services (CPV 9260), and who usually turns up
Durham County Council’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: Sporting services (CPV 9260) →
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 the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North East England.
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.
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.
1 bid6% / 13%
2–320% / 17%
4–635% / 23%
7+39% / 48%
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.
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.
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 9260Published estimate£800k
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 48 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–317%
4–623%
7+48%
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
- 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
- 1 Apr 2026, 17:16 BST
- Last source update
- 1 Apr 2026, 17:16 BST
- Authority reference
OPEN2026422- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-030604- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067b3dFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
1 Apr 2026 → 1 Aug 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published204 days ago1 Apr 2026, 17:16 BST
- Market engagement181 days ago24 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
Interested providers can access the written response questions, free of charge, by registering with open-uk.org
The deadline for completed responses is Friday 24th April 2026 at 12 noon.
- Tender notice expected160 days ago15 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts83 days ago1 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 Apr 2026, 17:16 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