Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 2 Mar 2026, 17:06 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Stadium Feasibility Study · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Halton Borough Council (Local council)

ServicesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 moends 30 Jun 2026 · starts 1 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The purpose of the preliminary market engagement (PME) process is to ascertain whether there is any interest in the market in undertaking a feasibility study to help the Council determine the future role and function of its stadium. This engagement with the market will help the Council to understand and gauge market interest and any considerations ahead of any possible formal tender process.

This information notice does not commit Halton Council to any future procurement or any subsequent decisions based on the output of the market testing exercise.

This process is run via The Chest. www.the-chest.org.uk ↗

Reference: DN808520

CPV: Feasibility study, advisory service, analysis · Project and design preparation, estimation of costs

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 1 moSMEVCSE

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

How Halton Borough Council buys Architectural, engineering and planning services (CPV 7124), and who usually turns up

Halton Borough 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: Architectural, engineering and planning services (CPV 7124) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerHalton Borough Council · division 71
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: 1 of 4 known-size awards · market: CPV 7124 · North West England, n=14
1 of 457%

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 North West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 4 of 7 known-location awards · market: CPV 7124 · North West England, n=18
57%44%

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: 5 decided notices · market: CPV 7124 · UK-wide, n=14
62 days24 days

Half of these awards were announced within 62 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 6 of 7 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7124 · North West England, n=16
86%19%

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 buyer20 lots with bid counts · all categories
5% had one bid
The market8 lots with bid counts · CPV 7124 · North West England
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid5% / 0%
Buyer: 1 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
2–335% / 38%
Buyer: 7 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
4–620% / 50%
Buyer: 4 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
7+40% / 13%
Buyer: 8 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 8 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 buyer19 lots with estimate and award · all categories
32% below estimate
The market27 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7124 · UK-wide
63% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate32% / 63%
Buyer: 6 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 17 of 27 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%53% / 22%
Buyer: 10 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 27 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16% / 15%
Buyer: 3 of 19 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 27 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 71241 monthSME 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 123 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% single-bid risk
Past bids on 123 similar lots
1 bid14%
17 of 123 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–324%
29 of 123 similar past lots received 2–3 (24%).
4–624%
29 of 123 similar past lots received 4–6 (24%).
7+39%
48 of 123 similar past lots received 7+ (39%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 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.

—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
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
2 Mar 2026, 17:06 GMT
Last source update
2 Mar 2026, 17:06 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-018665
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Feasibility study, advisory service, analysisProject and design preparation, estimation of costs
Delivery area
North West (UKD71)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-066035 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

2 Mar 2026 → 1 Jun 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published232 days ago
    2 Mar 2026, 17:06 GMT
  2. Market engagement187 days ago
    16 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    Interested suppliers will need to complete a questionnaire made available via The Chest www.the-chest.org.uk ↗ the Council's e-tendering portal. The Council will only be issuing and receiving documents for this PME via The Chest. Should you have any queries about this preliminary market engagement process, please send these via The Chest's Question and Answer section for a response. Do not email officers direct.

    The project reference on The Chest is DN808520

    In compliance with the Procurement Act 2023, it is mandatory for any interested suppliers to register on the new Central Digital Platform which is part of the enhanced Find a Tender Service. Please find here a link that will take you to the website to help you to register. Suppliers: How to register your organisation and first administrator on Find a Tender in three easy steps (HTML) - GOV.UK

  3. Contract starts142 days ago
    1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Mar 2026, 17:06 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

Halton Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PLTJ-1788-CBLR Municipal Building, Widnes, North West, WA8 7QFContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure