Official UK procurement notice
Provision and Delivery of an Annual Town Centre Soapbox Racing Event 2027-2029
Authority: Kettering Town Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionKettering Town Council invites tenders from suitably capable event operators to plan, promote, manage and deliver an annual public soapbox racing event in Kettering town centre in 2027, 2028 and 2029.
The Council is seeking a safe, professionally managed and visually engaging event that attracts participants and spectators, supports town-centre footfall and creates a distinctive annual experience for Kettering.
The successful supplier will provide an end-to-end event management service. This will include event design and race operation; event planning and project management; participant recruitment, registration and race management; specialist race infrastructure; event safety, risk assessment and emergency planning; liaison in relation to traffic management, road closures and relevant permissions; marketing and audience development; and operational management and delivery of the event.
The supplier will be expected to work collaboratively with Kettering Town Council and relevant local stakeholders, including North Northamptonshire Council, event safety partners, land and highway stakeholders and emergency services where required.
The Council is also seeking an approach that considers accessibility, sustainability, community involvement and opportunities to support local businesses, organisations and traders where appropriate.
Read the full description (550 more characters)
The contract will cover three annual events in 2027, 2028 and 2029, with an indicative budget of approximately £40,000 excluding VAT per event, giving an indicative three-year contract value of approximately £120,000 excluding VAT. Tenderers are required to identify VAT treatment and clearly state all assumptions, exclusions and potential additional charges.
Full details of the required services, Council and supplier responsibilities, minimum requirements, pricing schedule and evaluation methodology are contained within the Invitation to Tender.
CPV: Event services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1RenewalPublished value£160,000
- Value
- £160,000 exc. VAT · £192,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- Option to extend for one further annual event in 2030, at Kettering Town Council's sole discretion.
What 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).
Published sub-criteria (5)
- Event proposal & quality — 30%
- Price — 35%
- Experience & delivery team — 15%
- Safety & operational delivery — 10%
- Community & social value — 10%
Published award criteria (5)
- Price — Whole-life contract price, price clarity, inclusions and exclusions, and overall value for money. Tenderers must clearly identify what is included within the core price, any assumptions or exclusions, VAT treatment and any potential additional charges.
- Event proposal & quality — Quality, attractiveness and practicality of the event concept; delivery methodology; participant and spectator experience; ability to create a distinctive Kettering event.
- Experience & delivery team — Relevant comparable delivery, evidence of successful outcomes, capability and clarity of key roles.
- Safety & operational delivery — Quality and credibility of safety, risk, traffic/highway interface, emergency planning and operational controls.
- Community & social value — Local engagement, accessibility, local economic/community benefit and practical sustainability measures.
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995) in North East England — and who usually turns up
Kettering Town Council has too little published record in this market to describe on its own; the North East England market stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Kettering Town Council
no contract notices in Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995) in 36 months
Kettering Town Council has published no bid reports, no comparable estimate → award pairs and no award dates that this analysis can use — in Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995) (36 months) or across all categories (24 months).
North East England · Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services (CPV 7995)
contract notices delivered in North East England in 36 months: 26 in CPV 7995 (24 competed) · 595 in division 79 (374 competed, 107 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7995), last 36 months: 8 lots. 7 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 4) and 1 from older notices (bids received, middle 4).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7995), last 36 months: 8 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7995), last 36 months: 9 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7995), last 36 months: 7 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7995), last 36 months: 7 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7995), last 36 months: 13 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
Based on the North East England market’s usual movement over 9 lots (CPV 7995), applied to the £160,000 estimate on this notice. The range comes from the region’s middle half.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- 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
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 1 Oct 2026, 18:10 BST
- Last source update
- 1 Oct 2026, 18:10 BST
- Authority reference
KTC/SOAPBOX/2027-29- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077f1bFind a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via portal- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 9 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Tender submissions must be made electronically in accordance with the requirements set out in the Invitation to Tender. The tender documents and full submission instructions are available at: https://www.ketteringtowncouncil.gov.uk/documents/2176303 Completed tenders must be submitted by email to [email protected] by 12 noon on Friday 23 October 2026. Tenderers are responsible for ensuring that their submission is received by the Council before the deadline. more…
Late submissions may not be considered. Clarification questions must be submitted by 12 noon on Friday 9 October 2026 in accordance with the Invitation to Tender.Timeline
4 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedearlier today1 Oct 2026, 18:10 BST
- Clarification questions byin 8 days9 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 22 days23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Contract startsin 73 days14 Dec 2026, 00:00 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published1 Oct 2026, 18:10 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Invitation to Tender - Provision and Delivery of an Annual Town Centre Soapbox Racing Event 2027-2029. This document contains the full specification, supplier requirements, procurement timetable, submission requirements, pricing schedule and evaluation methodology.
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender