Official UK procurement notice
Print and Mail Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Bristol City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBristol City Council is conducting a soft market test to explore the range of systems available to undertake our print and mail services in a range of buildings across our entire estate. This exercise will help us understand market capabilities and innovations
We are interested in a solution that could comprise any of the following:
Managed Print [Multi-functional devices - MFDs]
Inbound Mail
Outbound Mail
This is not a commitment to purchase or an invitation to tender. Participation will not guarantee future business, and responses will be used for information gathering purposes only. If a formal procurement process follows, it will be advertised through the usual public procurement channels, so the market is notified. Responses will be reviewed to help Bristol City Council assess market options and determine whether a formal procurement process should follow. In order to access the documents, please click on the link:-
CPV: Postal and telecommunications services · Printed matter and related products
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Bristol City Council buys Printed matter and related products (CPV 22), and who usually turns up
Bristol City 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: Printed matter and related products (CPV 22) →
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 South West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South West 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 44 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 bid21% / 7%
2–334% / 34%
4–638% / 27%
7+7% / 32%
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 estimate50% / 44%
Within ±2%45% / 48%
Above estimate5% / 8%
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 #1No real estimate
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 44 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–334%
4–627%
7+32%
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
- 27 Jul 2026, 09:58 BST
- Last source update
- 27 Jul 2026, 09:58 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-070596- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d3e5Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
27 Jul 2026 → 1 Apr 2028 · 3 dates- Planning notice published86 days ago27 Jul 2026, 09:58 BST
- Market engagement57 days ago24 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
Bristol City Council is conducting a soft market test to explore the range of systems available to undertake our print and mail services in a range of buildings across our entire estate.
This is not a commitment to purchase or an invitation to tender. Participation will not guarantee future business, and responses will be used for information gathering purposes only. If a formal procurement process follows, it will be advertised through the usual public procurement channels, so the market is notified.
Responses will be reviewed to help Bristol City Council assess market options and determine whether a formal procurement process should follow.
For clarification questions, please use the ProContract e-tendering portal. We are not developing a solution through negotiation or dialogue and any clarifications questions submitted by respondents through the portal should be limited to clarifying the wording or meaning of questions and/or appended documents. In order to access the documents, please click on the link:-
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract starts1 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Jul 2026, 09:58 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