Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Aug 2026, 15:19 BST

Official UK procurement notice

T26-113BUS Design and Delivery of the Business Sprint Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire

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

ServicesBelow threshold
Planned pipeline value£5,500,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 moends 1 Feb 2027 · starts 1 Dec 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The purpose of this preliminary market engagement (PME) is to gather insights and feedback from the market to inform the development of the procurement strategy and specification for the Business Sprint: Fast Track Programme as well as assisting Derry City and Strabane District Council to ensure that the most efficient and effective methods of procurement are considered. 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 Derry City and Strabane District Council 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. **PLEASE NOTE: ALL COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRES MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA THE eTendersNI PortaI.*** Respondees are not required to wait until the closing date to submit a response. PME QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES MAY BE SUBMITTED VIA THE ETENDERSNI CFT MESSAGING FACILITY AT ANY TIME UP TO 12:00 on 4th September 2026**

CPV: Business analysis consultancy services · Business and management consultancy services · Market research services · Miscellaneous business and business-related services · Miscellaneous business-related 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 Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941), and who usually turns up

Derry City and Strabane District 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 services (CPV 7941) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bidWhat 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 7941 · Northern Ireland, n=18
86%72%

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 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 7941 · Northern Ireland, n=16
71%63%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.

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: 9 decided notices · market: CPV 7941 · Northern Ireland, n=13
28 days59 days

Half of these awards were announced 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 7941 · Northern Ireland, n=24
63%25%

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 market24 lots with bid counts · CPV 7941 · 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: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
2–310% / 33%
Buyer: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 21%
Buyer: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
7+30% / 25%
Buyer: 3 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 24 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 market19 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7941 · Northern Ireland
47% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate60% / 47%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%20% / 42%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 11%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 19 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 79412 monthsPublished estimate£5.5m
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 24 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet21% single-bid risk
Past bids on 24 similar lots
1 bid21%
5 of 24 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–333%
8 of 24 similar past lots received 2–3 (33%).
4–621%
5 of 24 similar past lots received 4–6 (21%).
7+25%
6 of 24 similar past lots received 7+ (25%).
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 £5.5m, 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
Below threshold
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
6 Aug 2026, 15:19 BST
Last source update
6 Aug 2026, 15:19 BST
Authority reference
T26-113BUS Design and Delivery of the Business Sprint Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-074860
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Business analysis consultancy servicesBusiness and management consultancy servicesMarket research servicesMiscellaneous business and business-related servicesMiscellaneous business-related services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN0A)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06de16 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

6 Aug 2026 → 1 Dec 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published76 days ago
    6 Aug 2026, 15:19 BST
  2. Market engagement46 days ago
    4 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    Please refer to the CfT documents for further detail.

  3. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 41 days
    1 Dec 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Aug 2026, 15:19 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