Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 20 Feb 2026, 17:24 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Purchase of Positive Pressure Ventilation

Authority: Royal Berkshire Fire Authority (Police & fire)·Consortium: 4 public authorities

GoodsAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 31 May 2031 · starts 1 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Royal Berkshire Fire Authority is organising a market engagement for the purchase of Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) units in collaboration with Oxfordshire County Council, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority. The Authorities are conducting this market engagement to gain insight into the range of PPVs currently available in the marketplace, with a specific interest in exploring different fuel types for these units. This process will help inform procurement strategy by assessing the latest technologies and options offered by suppliers.

CPV: Fire-brigade and rescue services · Ventilation equipment

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 5 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Jun 2026 – 31 May 2031 (5 yrs)
Delivery: South EastEligibility: SME eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Royal Berkshire Fire Authority buys Ventilation equipment (CPV 4252), and who usually turns up

Royal Berkshire Fire Authority’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: Ventilation equipment (CPV 4252) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerRoyal Berkshire Fire Authority · 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: 8 of 19 known-size awards · market: division 42 · South East England, n=76
42%66%

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 registered in South East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 13 of 28 known-location awards · market: division 42 · South East England, n=115
46%29%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South East 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: no decision dates published · market: division 42 · South East England, n=17
—26 days

Half of these awards were announced within 26 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 7 of 28 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4252 · UK-wide, n=8
25%50%

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 buyer2 lots with bid counts · all categories · too few to chart
The market32 lots with bid counts · division 42 · South East England
28% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid28%
Market: 9 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
2–334%
Market: 11 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
4–631%
Market: 10 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
7+6%
Market: 2 of 32 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 buyer2 lots with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The market22 lots with estimate and award · division 42 · South East England
45% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate45%
Market: 10 of 22 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%18%
Market: 4 of 22 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate36%
Market: 8 of 22 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 425260 monthsSME suitableEstimate 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 32 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet28% single-bid risk
Past bids on 32 similar lots
1 bid28%
9 of 32 similar past lots received 1 bid (28%).
2–334%
11 of 32 similar past lots received 2–3 (34%).
4–631%
10 of 32 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+6%
2 of 32 similar past lots received 7+ (6%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 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.

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
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
20 Feb 2026, 17:24 GMT
Last source update
20 Feb 2026, 17:24 GMT
Authority reference
1638
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-015859
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Fire-brigade and rescue servicesVentilation equipment
Delivery area
South East (UKJ11)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0659b1 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Feb 2026 → 1 Jun 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published243 days ago
    20 Feb 2026, 17:24 GMT
  2. Market engagement222 days ago
    13 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT

    The market engagement is being organised on 2nd March 2026 from 10:00 at Whitley Wood Fire Station, 270 Whitley Wood Road, Reading, RG2 8FT. Suppliers participating in the event will be allocated an hour and a half session to demonstrate their PPV fans. To book your slot, please email [email protected] with your organisation's name, contact details and preferred time for demonstration. Slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. This market engagement presents an opportunity for the Authority to review available solutions in the marketplace, enabling refinement of specifications, tender documentation, and the route to market.

  3. Contract starts143 days ago
    1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Feb 2026, 17:24 GMT
    UK2

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

4 public bodies on the notice

Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PGTB-9133-ZLDZ Newsham Court, Reading, South East, RG31 7SDContact email

Consortium members and other public bodies

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure