Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 2 Jul 2026, 15:15 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Strategic Partner for the delivery of Local Government Re-organisation (Oxfordshire Councils and West Berks)

Authority: Oxfordshire County Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrs 10 moends 1 Sept 2029 · starts 1 Nov 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The requirement is for suitably experienced supplier(s) to act as Strategic Partner to support the delivery of Local Government Reorganisation across Oxfordshire and West Berkshire. The requirement combines programme delivery support, transformation design, system convening, technical expertise, assurance and flexible capacity to respond to emerging programme needs.

CPV: Business and management consultancy and related services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 2 yrs 10 mo

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

How Oxfordshire County Council buys Business and management consultancy and related services (CPV 7940), and who usually turns up

Oxfordshire County 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: Business and management consultancy and related services (CPV 7940) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerOxfordshire County Council · division 79
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: 2 of 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 7940 · South East England, n=24
40%38%

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: 1 of 6 known-location awards · market: CPV 7940 · South East England, n=37
17%14%

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: 16 decided notices · market: CPV 7940 · UK-wide, n=28
94 days32 days

Half of these awards were announced within 94 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 4 of 7 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7940 · South East England, n=34
57%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 buyer27 lots with bid counts · all categories
15% had one bid
The market61 lots with bid counts · CPV 7940 · UK-wide
25% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid15% / 25%
Buyer: 4 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 61 lots with published bid counts.
2–333% / 16%
Buyer: 9 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 61 lots with published bid counts.
4–637% / 39%
Buyer: 10 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 24 of 61 lots with published bid counts.
7+15% / 20%
Buyer: 4 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 61 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 buyer13 lots with estimate and award · all categories
46% below estimate
The market73 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7940 · UK-wide
42% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate46% / 42%
Buyer: 6 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 31 of 73 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%31% / 51%
Buyer: 4 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 37 of 73 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate23% / 7%
Buyer: 3 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 73 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 794034 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 133 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 133 similar lots
1 bid13%
17 of 133 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–326%
34 of 133 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–626%
34 of 133 similar past lots received 4–6 (26%).
7+36%
48 of 133 similar past lots received 7+ (36%).
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
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
2 Jul 2026, 15:15 BST
Last source update
2 Jul 2026, 15:15 BST
Authority reference
I_5040
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-062372
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Business and management consultancy and related services
Delivery area
South East (UKJ11)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c29c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

2 Jul 2026 → 1 Nov 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published111 days ago
    2 Jul 2026, 15:15 BST
  2. Market engagement90 days ago
    22 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
    1. We are inviting suitably qualified suppliers to an in-person event in Oxford on 21/07/2026 at 10.00-11.30 and the purpose of the event is to ask for supplier feedback in relation to our requirement for a Strategic Partner to support Local Government Re-organisation in Oxfordshire and West Berks.
    2. Places will be allocated on first come first served basis up to room capacity. Only one representative per company or consortium should attend.
    3. Should you be interested in attending, please contact [email protected] by 17th July.
    4. Please note that should you not be able to attend you may still submit a bid response once the Tender is issued and we will include the any materials which were used during our market engagement events and include any questions and responses
  3. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 11 days
    1 Nov 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Jul 2026, 15:15 BST
    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

Oxfordshire County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PZNW-8281-MHNM County Hall, New Rd, Oxford, South East, OX1 1NDContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure