Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 17 Jul 2026, 11:51 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Project Level 3 ST1305 Machining Technician Stanard UK2

Authority: Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Central government)

ServicesBelow threshold
Planned pipeline value£27,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 24 Aug 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 7 Sept 2029 · up to 7 Sept 2030 with extensions · starts 7 Sept 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

'We are seeking a training provider to provide Level 3 Machinist Apprenticeships. The provider will be responsible for delivering both the academic element and apprenticeship training in accordance with the Skills England standards ST1305. The provide must have CNC capability and align to City and Guilds. We are wishing to place a contract for 3 years with an option 12 months. The provider will need be within a 50 mile radius of Salisbury/Wiltshire. Please contact us via DSP by the deadline to express your interest.

CPV: Vocational secondary education services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrs
Contract period: 7 Sept 2026 – 7 Sept 2029 (3 yrs) · up to 7 Sept 2030 with extensions
Delivery: South West
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Defence Science and Technology Laboratory buys Technical and vocational secondary education services (CPV 8021), and who usually turns up

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’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: Technical and vocational secondary education services (CPV 8021) →

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: 1 of 11 known-size awards · market: division 80 · South West England, n=459
9%50%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning. Small firms win less of this buyer’s work than the market’s: 9% against 50%, n=11.

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 South West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 of 12 known-location awards · market: division 80 · South West England, n=567
67%49%

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: no decision dates published · market: division 80 · South West England, n=49
—43 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 43 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 13 of 19 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8021 · UK-wide, n=6
68%33%

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 buyer11 lots with bid counts · all categories
55% had one bid
The market104 lots with bid counts · division 80 · South West England
18% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid55% / 18%
Buyer: 6 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 19 of 104 lots with published bid counts.
2–39% / 28%
Buyer: 1 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 29 of 104 lots with published bid counts.
4–627% / 34%
Buyer: 3 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 35 of 104 lots with published bid counts.
7+9% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 21 of 104 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 buyerToo few to chart: 1 lot with estimate and award, 5 needed · broad CPV 80
The market82 lots with estimate and award · division 80 · South West England
39% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate39%
Market: 32 of 82 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%45%
Market: 37 of 82 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16%
Market: 13 of 82 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 802136 monthsPublished estimate£27k
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 104 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet18% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 104 similar lots
1 bid18%
19 of 104 similar past lots received 1 bid (18%).
2–328%
29 of 104 similar past lots received 2–3 (28%).
4–634%
35 of 104 similar past lots received 4–6 (34%).
7+20%
21 of 104 similar past lots received 7+ (20%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £27k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
Below threshold
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
17 Jul 2026, 11:51 BST
Last source update
20 Jul 2026, 09:12 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-068056
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Vocational secondary education services
Delivery area
South West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06cdb4 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

17 Jul 2026 → 7 Sept 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published100 days ago
    17 Jul 2026, 11:51 BST
  2. Latest notice published97 days ago
    20 Jul 2026, 09:12 BST
  3. Market engagement86 days ago
    30 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    Please contact via DSP us by the deadline to express your interest.'

  4. Tender notice expected61 days ago
    24 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract starts48 days ago
    7 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Jul 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    17 Jul 2026, 11:51 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Jul 2026, 09:12 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Email address amended to [email protected]. All expressions of interest to be sent to the above address please

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

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDDM-1961-MTLN Porton Down, Salisbury, South West, SP4 0JQContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure