Official UK procurement notice
Provision of installation, servicing and maintenance of Vernacare macerator units at Nottingham City Hospital
Authority: Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (The Authority) is publishing this planned procurement notice is to give as much advance information to the market as possible with regards to the provision of installation, servicing and maintenance of its Vernacare macerator units at Nottingham City Hospital (The Services).
The Services will include, but are not limited to, a minimum of 1 maintenance visit per annum, 24/7 call out support and guaranteed next day call out for reactive maintenance. Installation shall be required on an ad-hoc basis e.g. lifecycle replacements.
The responses to the Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise carried out in November/December 2025 revealed that materials (e.g. parts, spares etc) for the Authority's macerators are only available from Vernacare.
The Authority considered options such as purchasing materials and services separately, however, this would require the Authority to purchase materials (e.g. parts, spares) upfront to enable a supplier to provide the Services. Due to constraints (e.g. Budget and storage availability), the Authority does not have the appetite to purchase and store the volume of materials required to enable a supplier to effectively provide the Services. Therefore, the Authority wishes to contract for provision of Services, including materials, under a single agreement.
Based on the above, the Authority is considering awarding a contract to Vernacare in accordance with part 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 (Direct award in Special Cases) based on the grounds due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.
only a particular supplier can supply the services required (Namely provision of Services including materials) and there are no reasonable alternatives to those services, i.e.: The Authority would be required to:
- Purchase and store materials upfront, or
- Replace all existing Vernacare macerator units with an alternative.
It is envisaged this notice will inform any interested Suppliers of the planned procurement exercise and the Authority's chosen procurement route.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 31 Dec 2028, 23:59 GMT.
CPV: Macerators for the treatment of sewage · Repair and maintenance of public conveniences · Repair and maintenance services of electrical and mechanical building installations · Repair and maintenance services of mechanical building installations
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewalPublished value£150,000
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust buys Repair and maintenance services of electrical and mechanical building installations (CPV 5071), and who usually turns up
Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust’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: Repair and maintenance services of electrical and mechanical building installations (CPV 5071) →
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 East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East Midlands.
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 104 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 bid0% / 13%
2–333% / 7%
4–633% / 40%
7+33% / 40%
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 estimate13%
Within ±2%75%
Above estimate13%
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 5071Published estimate£150k
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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–37%
4–640%
7+40%
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- 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
- Yes · next expected 31 Dec 2028
- First published
- 13 Nov 2025, 12:42 GMT
- Last source update
- 23 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 1 May 2026
- Authority reference
C398430- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-015949- Latest notice
- Planned procurement notice (UK3)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e05aFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 17 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 17 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Not allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Please email the procuring officer using the details in this notice.
Timeline
13 Nov 2025 → 1 May 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published343 days ago13 Nov 2025, 12:42 GMT
- Market engagement281 days ago13 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
Suppliers are invited to download the PME document via the e-Tendering portal for more information;
health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗
Included within the document is a brief questionnaire. Suppliers are encouraged to respond to these questions which will help inform and shape the procurement process.
If you have any problems with the Electronic Portal., you should contact the helpdesk on 0800 9956035 or by sending an email to [email protected] . The helpline is open Monday to Friday between 8 am and 6 pm excluding public and bank holidays.
- Latest notice published241 days ago23 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMT
- Tender notice expected219 days ago16 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Clarification questions by188 days ago17 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline188 days ago17 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Contract starts174 days ago1 May 2026, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by173 days ago1 May 2026, 23:59 BST
Notice history
6 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 13 Nov 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published13 Nov 2025, 12:42 GMTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published23 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMTUK3
- Published value updated to £150,00023 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMTwas £250,000
- Status changed to planned23 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMT
- Procurement method changed23 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMT
- Deadline published: 17 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST23 Feb 2026, 10:23 GMT
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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender