Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 13 Nov 2025, 11:50 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Procure4Education Northern Ireland 2025

Authority: THE UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER (Education)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 26 Nov 2025from the planned procurement notice
Contract term Ends 27 Nov 2025starts 27 Nov 2025

What is being bought

Published requirement description

We're so excited for Procure4Education Northern Ireland 2025 – Wednesday 26th November at Crowne Plaza Belfast! Ulster University will be there so make sure to come over to talk to our team at our stand about shaping the future of education procurement.

Join us at the Crowne Plaza Belfast for a one-day event bringing together education procurement leaders, suppliers, and stakeholders from across Northern Ireland.

Delegates will benefit from:

  • Keynote sessions and expert-led discussions on the future of education procurement
  • Direct engagement with senior buyers through the Supplier Engagement Zone
  • Access to the Product Showcase Exhibition featuring innovative supplier solutions

CPV: Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services · Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security · Chemical products · Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessories · Construction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus) · Construction work · Education and training services · Electrical machinery, apparatus, equipment and consumables; lighting · Financial and insurance services · Food, beverages, tobacco and related products · Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products · Health and social work services · +12 more

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How THE UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER buys Food, drink, tobacco (CPV 15), and who usually turns up

THE UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Food, drink, tobacco (CPV 15) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerTHE UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER · all categories
The marketFood, drink, tobacco (CPV 15) · Northern Ireland
What 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: 1 of 4 known-size awards · market: division 15 · Northern Ireland, n=45
1 of 429%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Northern Ireland.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 6 of 10 known-location awards · market: division 15 · Northern Ireland, n=28
60%75%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 decided notices · market: division 15 · Northern Ireland, n=17
46 days35 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 46 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.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 5 of 13 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 15 · Northern Ireland, n=21
38%38%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer9 lots with bid counts · all categories
11% had one bid
The market75 lots with bid counts · division 15 · Northern Ireland
32% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid11% / 32%
Buyer: 1 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 24 of 75 lots with published bid counts.
2–344% / 43%
Buyer: 4 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 32 of 75 lots with published bid counts.
4–644% / 24%
Buyer: 4 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 18 of 75 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 1%
Buyer: 0 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 75 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.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer5 lots with estimate and award · all categories
60% below estimate
The market52 lots with estimate and award · division 15 · Northern Ireland
25% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate60% / 25%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 52 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%0% / 58%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 30 of 52 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate40% / 17%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 52 lots with an estimate and award.
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 #1CPV 15SME suitableEstimate not published

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 15. The comparison uses that group.

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 75 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet32% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 75 similar lots
1 bid32%
24 of 75 similar past lots received 1 bid (32%).
2–343%
32 of 75 similar past lots received 2–3 (43%).
4–624%
18 of 75 similar past lots received 4–6 (24%).
7+1%
1 of 75 similar past lots received 7+ (1%).
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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
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
13 Nov 2025, 11:50 GMT
Last source update
13 Nov 2025, 11:50 GMT
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-073478
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection servicesBusiness services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and securityChemical productsClothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessoriesConstruction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus)Construction workEducation and training servicesElectrical machinery, apparatus, equipment and consumables; lightingFinancial and insurance servicesFood, beverages, tobacco and related products
+14 moreFurniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning productsHealth and social work services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e047 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

13 Nov 2025 → 27 Nov 2025 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published346 days ago
    13 Nov 2025, 11:50 GMT
  2. Tender notice expected332 days ago
    26 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
  3. Market engagement332 days ago
    26 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Procure4Education Northern Ireland 2025 on the 26th of November!!

    We're so excited for Procure4Education Northern Ireland 2025 – Wednesday 26th November at Crowne Plaza Belfast! Ulster University will be there so make sure to come over to talk to our team at our stand about shaping the future of education procurement.

    Full details and Free Registration information here

    Join us at the Crowne Plaza Belfast for a one-day event bringing together education procurement leaders, suppliers, and stakeholders from across Northern Ireland.

    Delegates will benefit from:

    • Keynote sessions and expert-led discussions on the future of education procurement
    • Direct engagement with senior buyers through the Supplier Engagement Zone
    • Access to the Product Showcase Exhibition featuring innovative supplier solutions
  4. Contract starts332 days ago
    27 Nov 2025

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    13 Nov 2025, 11:50 GMT
    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

The University of Ulster

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-COH: RC000726 Finance Office, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, BT52 1SAContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure