Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Refuse Collection, Recycling and Street Cleansing Vehicles
Authority: West Northamptonshire Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionWest Northamptonshire Council (the Council) has statutory duties relating to the collection and disposal of household waste and recycling and for keeping public land clear of litter and refuse as set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Under a structural change order, when the Council was established in 2021, it inherited the arrangements which enable these statutory duties to be fulfilled in the 3 former areas of West Northamptonshire: Northampton, Daventry and South Northamptonshire.
The current contractual arrangements for provision of these services are due to end at the end of May 2028. From June 2028, the council will require a fleet of vehicles with which to carry out these services, including not but restricted to refuse collection vehicles, food waste vehicles, mechanical sweepers and a range of tipper trucks and vans. We are also looking at options for both vehicles provision (lease vs capital purchase) and vehicle maintenance services. Vehicles will be operated from 3 different depot locations in Northampton, Towcester and Daventry.
CPV: Refuse-collection vehicles · Refuse-compaction vehicles · Road-sweeping vehicles · Vehicles for refuse · Vehicles for refuse and sewage
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Northamptonshire Council buys Heavy-duty motor vehicles (CPV 3414), and who usually turns up
West Northamptonshire Council’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: Heavy-duty motor vehicles (CPV 3414) →
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in East Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 31 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.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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 bid2% / 22%
2–35% / 35%
4–68% / 35%
7+85% / 8%
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 estimate16% / 38%
Within ±2%53% / 29%
Above estimate32% / 33%
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 3414Estimate not published
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 33 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid27%
2–345%
4–615%
7+12%
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- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- 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
- 16 Apr 2026, 11:45 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Apr 2026, 11:45 BST
- Authority reference
PME 1- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-034598- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0683f6Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
16 Apr 2026 → 1 Jun 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published191 days ago16 Apr 2026, 11:45 BST
- Market engagement179 days ago27 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
To express your interest and support us with this market exercise please send an email to
or [email protected] and we will provide a copy of our questionnaire by return.
By completing the questionnaire, your organisation will help inform the review and there commendations that are made to the Council's Cabinet.
Responses to the questionnaire will not be evaluated and participation in this process will not impact your ability to engage with the future tender opportunity.
Due to the specialities within this procurement process it may be possible we will conduct a second phase of this PME.
Either way your details will also be kept on file and you will be notified of any procurement which relates to these services.
Please insert your answers within this word document (you are able to edit the space within the table for your answer) and return by 1600hrs 27th April 2026 via e-mail to
Thank you in advance for the information you provide and your engagement in this pre-procurement exercise.
- Tender notice expected52 days ago1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today24 Oct 2026
- Contract starts1 Jun 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 Apr 2026, 11:45 BSTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender