Find a TenderOpen for tender Tender notice
Published 2 Nov 2026, 15:35 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Purchase of 475 Smartphones for MKCC

Authority: Milton Keynes Council (Local council)

GoodsBelow threshold - open competitionBelow threshold
Published estimate£98,000£117,600 inc. VAT
Submission deadline 19 Nov 202612:00 GMT · 16 days left
Clarification cut-off 13 Nov 202623:59 GMT · questions to the authority
Contract term 2 moends 31 Jan 2027 · starts 1 Dec 2026
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

Milton Keynes City Council are currently out to tender for the provision of 475 Smartphones for Sheltered Housing and ICT staff. Suppliers that would like to take part in this tender process are invited to "Express Interest" upon which they will be given access to the full tender documentation through this e-tendering system.

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Milton Keynes City Council are currently out to tender for the provision of 475 Smartphones for Sheltered Housing and ICT staff.

Suppliers that would like to take part in this tender process are invited to "Express Interest" upon which they will be given access to the full tender documentation through this e-tendering system.

Suppliers will be notified by email, and the tender documents can be accessed from the “My Tenders” area of this website by selecting the “View Details” button for this tender.

Deadline for submissions of the tender will be 12 noon Thursday 19th November 2026.

Please allow sufficient time to make your return as late returns will not be permitted.

Any questions relating to this tender should be made via correspondence on the website.

Please do not engage with any persons in the Council via email or phone regarding this tender.

CPV: Mobile telephones

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1 2 moPublished value£98,000
Contract period: 1 Dec 2026 – 31 Jan 2027 (2 mo)Value: £98,000 exc. VAT · £117,600 inc. VAT
Delivery: South EastTurnover guideline: ~£196,000/yr≈ 2× annual value

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids are scored

Lot awarding rule: pass fail criteria followed by 100% price

No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.

What this means for your bid
  • Turnover usually expected at this size: about £196,000 (twice the annual value).

Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How Milton Keynes Council buys Mobile telephones (CPV 3225), and who usually turns up

Milton Keynes 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: Mobile telephones (CPV 3225) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerMilton Keynes Council · all categories
The marketMobile telephones (CPV 3225) · South East England
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: 834 of 896 known-size awards · market: CPV 3225 · South East England, n=6
93%0%

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. The market figure counts awards delivered in South East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 869 of 914 known-location awards · market: CPV 3225 · South East England, n=6
95%50%

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: 16 decided notices · market: division 32 · South East England, n=16
80 days42 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 80 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 70 of 917 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3225 · South East England, n=6
8%50%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer903 lots with bid counts · all categories
8% had one bid
The market17 lots with bid counts · division 32 · South East England
6% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid8% / 6%
Buyer: 68 of 903 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 17 lots with published bid counts.
2–39% / 29%
Buyer: 84 of 903 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 17 lots with published bid counts.
4–69% / 53%
Buyer: 83 of 903 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 17 lots with published bid counts.
7+74% / 12%
Buyer: 668 of 903 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 17 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 buyer46 lots with estimate and award · all categories
41% below estimate
The market16 lots with estimate and award · division 32 · South East England
50% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate41% / 50%
Buyer: 19 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%33% / 44%
Buyer: 15 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate26% / 6%
Buyer: 12 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 16 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 32252 monthsPublished estimate£98k
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.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

4expected bids15% chance of a single bid
similar past contests in this category: 2
Forecast chances for this lot
1 bid15%
Chance this lot gets 1 bid: 15%. This is a forecast.
2–324%
Chance this lot gets 2–3: 24%. This is a forecast.
4–627%
Chance this lot gets 4–6: 27%. This is a forecast.
7+33%
Chance this lot gets 7+: 33%. This is a forecast.
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.

Based on 14 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

£86k12% below estimate
14 comparable awards
Forecast compared with the buyer’s estimate
Middle 50%£74k–£98k
Half of likely prices fall between £73,979 and £98,000.
Estimate£98k
The buyer published an estimate of £98,000 for this lot.
A 10% chance the award lands exactly on the estimate.

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.

SupplierWon in this categoryLive contractsAward vs estimate
3 panel places
£14m51 awards in 36m · last this month20 live · £1.8m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

at estimate n=1
1 panel places
£6.7m13 awards in 36m · last 1 month ago3 live · £3.2m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

12% above n=1
1 panel places
£3.4m7 awards in 36m · last 1 month ago3 live · £311k
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

56% below n=1
1 panel places
£2.4m12 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago2 live · £594k
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

3% below n=5
£157k1 award in 36m · last 3 months ago1 live · £157k
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

11% below n=1
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
Below threshold - open competition
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
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
Unspecified in notice
First published
2 Nov 2026, 15:35 GMT
Last source update
2 Nov 2026, 15:35 GMT
Authority reference
2026-289
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-103853
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Mobile telephones
Delivery area
South East (UKJ12)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0795d8 Find a Tender

How to participate & submission route

Official notice Submit via In-tend
Submission portal named on this notice: In-tend · Who buys & how to bid on In-tend
Supplier login requiredElectronic submission allowed
Access & registration note: Free · one account per buying organisation's portal · reCAPTCHA on signup
Requests to participate (first stage)
—
Tender submission deadline
19 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
Clarification deadline
13 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
Published estimate £98,000 excludes VAT (£117,600 including VAT).

Timeline

2 Nov 2026 → 1 Dec 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Tender notice published8h ago
    2 Nov 2026, 15:35 GMT
  2. Today
    3 Nov 2026
  3. Clarification questions byin 10 days
    13 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Submission deadlinein 16 days
    19 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 27 days
    1 Dec 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Tender notice published
    2 Nov 2026, 15:35 GMT
    UK4

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Nothing awarded yet
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Milton Keynes City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PLDZ-6131-PWZH Civic Offices, 1 Saxon Gate East, Milton Keynes, South East, MK9 3EJContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender