Official UK procurement notice
Student Pathway Provider/International Study Centre
Authority: University of Sussex (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe university currently hosts an on-campus "International Study Centre" which delivers routes to degree courses for international students. The partner provider recruits students and provides options for entry that are taught by the provider and certified by Sussex. At the successful completion of the course students are invited to join their selected course and enrol as Sussex students.
This provision is due to expire at the end of academic year 2029/30 (31 July 2030). The university is therefore engaging the market to assist in the formation of our plans for this key student recruitment route. We see this as an opportunity to challenge our assumptions across the board about how we can support potential students and encourage them to enrol at Sussex.
To this end while the international student pathway is forming the core of our investigation in this project, we see this as an opportunity to reevaluate pathways across all student cohorts, locations, models and formats. We have recently conducted premarket engagement in our Online Distance Learning space (with a tender proposed for 2026) and across the University we are seeking ways to respond to the increasingly dynamic student market.
As such rather than framing specific requirements we have provided objectives and needs to meet.
Our hope is that by engaging with suppliers we can be innovative in our response to student demand in collaboration with the market to meet student needs while providing sustainable income and value for money for all involved.
CPV: Administrative educational services · Education and training services · Marketing services · Recruitment services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How University of Sussex buys Recruitment services (CPV 7960), and who usually turns up
University of Sussex’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: Recruitment services (CPV 7960) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South East England.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 63 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid0%
2–325%
4–638%
7+38%
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.
Below estimate20%
Within ±2%80%
Above estimate0%
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.
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 7960Estimate not published
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 181 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–327%
4–629%
7+38%
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.
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.
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.
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
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 17 Apr 2026, 10:24 BST
- Last source update
- 17 Apr 2026, 10:24 BST
- Authority reference
US_25014- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-035025- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0684e5Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
17 Apr 2026 → 1 Aug 2029 · 3 dates- Planning notice published186 days ago17 Apr 2026, 10:24 BST
- Market engagement81 days ago31 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
An initial questionnaire is issued 17/04/2026 with a return date of 26/05/2026.
The PME period is set at 31/07/2026 to allow for follow up iterations of PME if required.
Further details regarding this engagement are available in the Instruction Document, which can be accessed via the e-sourcing portal, Proactis (search for the University of Sussex and US_25014):
supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/account/login ↗
While participation in this engagement is not mandatory for involvement in any future procurement process, responses received will help inform the Contracting Authority about the level of market interest. Additionally, feedback from this engagement may help shape the final service requirements and inform the design of the forthcoming procurement strategy, ensuring it reflects both institutional priorities and sector best practice.
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Contract starts1 Aug 2029, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Apr 2026, 10:24 BSTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender