Find a TenderPlanned procurementPipeline notice
Published 22 May 2026, 14:08 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Provision of Travel Safe Officers and Counter Terror Patrols

Authority: Northern Trains Ltd (Public body)

Services
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Apr 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Mar 2031 · starts 1 Apr 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Provision of Travel Safe Officers (TSOs) and Counter Terror Patrols (CTP's) to support delivery of its service commitments across its North of England operating network.

The TSO's provide onboard security patrols delivering safe travel for passengers with the activities including the following roles:

  • Travel Safe Officer
  • Travel Safe Team Leader

CTP's are undertaken at Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road Stations on the following basis:

a) Manchester Victoria - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year;

b) Manchester Oxford Road - Monday to Saturday 10.00hours to 22.00hours and Sunday 11.00hours to 21.00hours, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

CPV: Security services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrs

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

How Northern Trains Ltd buys Security services (CPV 7971), and who usually turns up

Northern Trains Ltd’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: Security services (CPV 7971) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNorthern Trains Ltd · division 79
The marketSecurity services (CPV 7971) · UK-wide
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: 4 of 10 known-size awards · market: CPV 7971 · UK-wide, n=279
40%56%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 2 known-location awards · market: CPV 7971 · UK-wide, n=297
2 of 258%

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: CPV 7971 · UK-wide, n=87
—65 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 65 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 3 of 9 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7971 · UK-wide, n=401
33%43%

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 buyer10 lots with bid counts · all categories
0% had one bid
The market184 lots with bid counts · CPV 7971 · UK-wide
16% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 16%
Buyer: 0 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 29 of 184 lots with published bid counts.
2–320% / 17%
Buyer: 2 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 32 of 184 lots with published bid counts.
4–640% / 21%
Buyer: 4 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 38 of 184 lots with published bid counts.
7+40% / 46%
Buyer: 4 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 85 of 184 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 buyer12 lots with estimate and award · all categories
50% below estimate
The market119 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7971 · UK-wide
29% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate50% / 29%
Buyer: 6 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 35 of 119 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%25% / 48%
Buyer: 3 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 57 of 119 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate25% / 23%
Buyer: 3 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 27 of 119 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 797136 monthsEstimate not published
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 184 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet16% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 184 similar lots
1 bid16%
29 of 184 similar past lots received 1 bid (16%).
2–317%
32 of 184 similar past lots received 2–3 (17%).
4–621%
38 of 184 similar past lots received 4–6 (21%).
7+46%
85 of 184 similar past lots received 7+ (46%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 6 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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Carlisle Security Services LimitedEarlier contractProcurement of Counter Terror Patrols and Depot Securitynotice published Apr 2022—£1.1mMatched as the earlier contract

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.

What this replaces
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

41% title match.

A past supplier may not bid again.

The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (41% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid

Procurement of Counter Terror Patrols and Depot Security — held by Carlisle Security Services Limited; no contract end date published.

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
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, 14:08 BST
Last source update
22 May 2026, 14:08 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-047937
Latest notice
Pipeline notice (UK1)
Classification (CPV)
Security services
Delivery area
North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06a15e Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

22 May 2026 → 1 Apr 2028 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published154 days ago
    22 May 2026, 14:08 BST
  2. Today
    23 Oct 2026
  3. Tender notice expectedin 161 days
    1 Apr 2027, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts
    1 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Pipeline notice published
    22 May 2026, 14:08 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

NORTHERN TRAINS LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-COH: 03076444 · GB-PPON: PZCJ-2164-HJQZ George Stephenson House, York, Yorkshire & Humber, YO1 6JTContact 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