Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 25 Feb 2026, 16:57 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

SU69(26) Preliminary Market Engagement Notice for Laboratory & Hazardous Substance Management System

Authority: Swansea Bay University Health Board (Education)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£300,000pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 29 May 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 30 Sept 2029 · up to 30 Sept 2031 with extensions · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is to confirm that a Request For Information (RFI) for a Laboratory & Hazardous Substance Management System was advertised on sell2wales (reference 162103) and FTS (20260225-000001) with OJEU reference 2026-162103 on 25th February 2026. Due to the lack of submissions by the 18th March 2026 deadline, direct engagement with 14 suppliers was undertaken from 25th March, using the same RFI documents, which resulted in 5 responses. The received information is currently being used to review and revise tender documents with the intention to advertise an above threshold Open Tender for a Laboratory & Hazardous Substance Management System later in May 2026.

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Inventory management software development services · Inventory management software package · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEVCSE

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

How Swansea University buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up

Swansea University’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: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerSwansea University · division 72
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: 0 of 2 known-size awards · market: CPV 7221 · Wales (Cymru), n=15
0 of 233%

No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.

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 Wales (Cymru).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 3 known-location awards · market: CPV 7221 · Wales (Cymru), n=14
0 of 314%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Wales (Cymru).

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: 12 decided notices · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=60
66 days48 days

Half of these awards were announced within 66 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 3 of 5 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7221 · Wales (Cymru), n=23
60%65%

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 buyer19 lots with bid counts · all categories
16% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 7221 · Wales (Cymru)
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid16% / 0%
Buyer: 3 of 19 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–326% / 80%
Buyer: 5 of 19 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–626% / 20%
Buyer: 5 of 19 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+32% / 0%
Buyer: 6 of 19 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 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
31% below estimate
The market57 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
47% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate31% / 47%
Buyer: 4 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 27 of 57 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%69% / 33%
Buyer: 9 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 57 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 19%
Buyer: 0 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 57 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 722136 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£300k
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 55 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet15% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 55 similar lots
1 bid15%
8 of 55 similar past lots received 1 bid (15%).
2–342%
23 of 55 similar past lots received 2–3 (42%).
4–620%
11 of 55 similar past lots received 4–6 (20%).
7+24%
13 of 55 similar past lots received 7+ (24%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £300k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
25 Feb 2026, 16:57 GMT
Last source update
12 May 2026, 14:09 BST
Authority reference
SU69(26)
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-043493
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportInventory management software development servicesInventory management software packageSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
Wales (UKL17)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065c94 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

25 Feb 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published239 days ago
    25 Feb 2026, 16:57 GMT
  2. Market engagement190 days ago · met
    15 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    A Request For Information (RFI) for a Laboratory & Hazardous Substance Management System was advertised on sell2wales (reference 162103) and FTS (20260225-000001) with OJEU reference 2026-162103 on 25th February 2026. Due to the lack of submissions by the 18th March 2026 deadline, direct engagement with 14 suppliers was undertaken from 25th March 2026, using the same RFI documents, which resulted in 5 responses by the 13th April 2026 deadline.

  3. Latest notice published163 days ago
    12 May 2026, 14:09 BST
  4. Tender notice expected146 days ago
    29 May 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract starts22 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 25 Feb 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    25 Feb 2026, 16:57 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 Mar 2026, 12:06 GMT
    UK2
  3. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    12 May 2026, 14:09 BST
    UK2
  4. Published value updated to £300,000
    12 May 2026, 14:09 BST
    was £240,000
Published amendments (1)

Extension granted until 09:00 hours on 19th March 2026 to allow for further interest

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

Swansea University

Contracting authorityPublic undertakingWelsh devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PTNV-7472-GRTW Procurement, Finance Dept., Swansea, Wales, SA2 8PPContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure