Find a TenderPlanned procurementPipeline notice
Published 22 May 2026, 15:45 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Provision of physical library stock

Authority: Lancashire County Council (Local council)

GoodsSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£3,450,284pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 8 Feb 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 2 Jun 2029 · up to 2 Jun 2031 with extensions · starts 3 Jun 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Provision of library stock adults and children's books

CPV: Printed books, brochures and leaflets

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSME
Contract period: 3 Jun 2027 – 2 Jun 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 2 Jun 2031 with extensions
Delivery: North WestEligibility: SME eligible
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 Lancashire County Council buys Printed books, brochures and leaflets (CPV 2210), and who usually turns up

Lancashire County 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 books, brochures and leaflets (CPV 2210) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLancashire County Council · all categories
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: 94 of 141 known-size awards · market: CPV 2210 · UK-wide, n=7
67%57%

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.

Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 145 of 219 known-location awards · market: CPV 2210 · UK-wide, n=11
66%9%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 20 decided notices · market: division 22 · UK-wide, n=16
63 days48 days

Half of these awards were announced within 63 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 31 of 110 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 2210 · UK-wide, n=15
28%60%

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 buyer70 lots with bid counts · all categories
20% had one bid
The market44 lots with bid counts · division 22 · UK-wide
7% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid20% / 7%
Buyer: 14 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 44 lots with published bid counts.
2–330% / 34%
Buyer: 21 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 44 lots with published bid counts.
4–624% / 27%
Buyer: 17 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 44 lots with published bid counts.
7+26% / 32%
Buyer: 18 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 44 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 buyer56 lots with estimate and award · all categories
29% below estimate
The market25 lots with estimate and award · division 22 · UK-wide
44% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate29% / 44%
Buyer: 16 of 56 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 25 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%52% / 48%
Buyer: 29 of 56 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 12 of 25 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 8%
Buyer: 11 of 56 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 25 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 221024 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£3.5m
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 44 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet7% single-bid risk
Past bids on 44 similar lots
1 bid7%
3 of 44 similar past lots received 1 bid (7%).
2–334%
15 of 44 similar past lots received 2–3 (34%).
4–627%
12 of 44 similar past lots received 4–6 (27%).
7+32%
14 of 44 similar past lots received 7+ (32%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4.5 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 £3.5m, 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
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
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
22 May 2026, 15:45 BST
Last source update
22 May 2026, 15:45 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-048145
Latest notice
Pipeline notice (UK1)
Classification (CPV)
Printed books, brochures and leaflets
Delivery area
North West (UKD)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06a1f0 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

22 May 2026 → 3 Jun 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published152 days ago
    22 May 2026, 15:45 BST
  2. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  3. Tender notice expectedin 111 days
    8 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract startsin 225 days
    3 Jun 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Pipeline notice published
    22 May 2026, 15:45 BST
    UK1

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

Lancashire County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PBBJ-2179-TNXM PO Box 100, County Hall, Preston, North West, PR1 0LDContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender