Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 3 Jun 2026, 13:39 BST

Official UK procurement notice

T26-080BUS Place Based Perception Research and Strategic Alignment Study Preliminary Market Engagement

Authority: Derry City and Strabane District Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£50,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 moends 15 Jan 2027 · starts 14 Aug 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Derry City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC) intends to undertake a preliminary market engagement exercise to inform the procurement of specialist services to deliver a Place Based Perception Research and Strategic Alignment Study. The purpose of this PME is to engage with the market to:

  • Test the feasibility and scope of the proposed research commission
  • Seek insight into best practice methodologies for perception research and stakeholder alignment
  • Understand market capability, innovation and delivery approaches
  • Inform the development of a robust specification and procurement strategy This commission will establish a baseline understanding of how Derry and Strabane City Region is perceived across key audiences and support the alignment of strategic priorities and future place positioning. The first phase of the market engagement exercise will be participation from the supply base through the attached questionnaire. Responses to these questions will help DCSDC gather comprehensive information about potential suppliers and the services they offer. This will allow us to make informed decisions regarding our specification and procurement strategy before entering the market with a full procurement competition. At this stage, any information gathered through this engagement exercise will solely inform internal business planning and any possible subsequent procurement process; and will NOT be appraised in any future tender evaluation exercise.

CPV: Advertising and marketing services · Marketing services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Derry City and Strabane District Council buys Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934), and who usually turns up

Derry City and Strabane District Council’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
The marketAdvertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) · Northern Ireland
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: 6 of 7 known-size awards · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=19
86%89%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Northern Ireland.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 5 of 7 known-location awards · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=19
71%95%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 9 decided notices · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=16
28 days41 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 28 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.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 5 of 8 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland, n=23
63%17%

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 buyer10 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 79
50% had one bid
The market28 lots with bid counts · CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland
21% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid50% / 21%
Buyer: 5 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
2–310% / 14%
Buyer: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 46%
Buyer: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 28 lots with published bid counts.
7+30% / 18%
Buyer: 3 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 28 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 buyer5 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 79
60% below estimate
The market21 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7934 · Northern Ireland
10% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate60% / 10%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%20% / 76%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 16 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 14%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 21 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 79345 monthsPublished estimate£50k
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 28 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet21% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 28 similar lots
1 bid21%
6 of 28 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–314%
4 of 28 similar past lots received 2–3 (14%).
4–646%
13 of 28 similar past lots received 4–6 (46%).
7+18%
5 of 28 similar past lots received 7+ (18%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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 £50k, 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
3 Jun 2026, 13:39 BST
Last source update
3 Jun 2026, 13:39 BST
Authority reference
T26-080BUS
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-052354
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Advertising and marketing servicesMarketing services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN0A)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ac74 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

3 Jun 2026 → 14 Aug 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published146 days ago
    3 Jun 2026, 13:39 BST
  2. Market engagement120 days ago
    29 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST

    Please refer to the CfT documents for further detail.

  3. Contract starts75 days ago
    14 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    3 Jun 2026, 13:39 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

Derry City and Strabane District Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PGJQ-8275-HLMG 98 Strand Road, Derry, Northern Ireland, BT48 7NNContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure