Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 11 Feb 2026, 14:59 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Technical Support & Spares Supply Agreement Mk5a Materials & Materials Management

Authority: CHILTERN RAIL LIMITED (Public body)

Services
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 10 yrsends 30 Oct 2036 · starts 31 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Chiltern Railways Company is in process of cascading its fleet of 13*5 car sets of Mk5a Coaches and 14*c68 Locomotive units on its London Marylebone to Birmingham route during 2026, with the full complement of rolling stock to be in service by 1st December 2026. The units are leased from Beacon Rail Leasing and are currently being maintained under an interim maintenance agreement between Chiltern Railways and Beacon Rail Leasing until 1st December 2026.

Under the existing maintenance structure, the Mk5a Coaches are being maintained by the OEM alongside a TSSSA, the maintenance of the c68 Locomotives is being undertaken by a non-OEM 3rd party who also operate the c68 TSSSA. The maintenance works are being undertaken at the Eastleigh Train Maintenance Depot, with vehicle movements to and from the depot being provided by a 3rd party supplier.

As part of the long-term maintenance contract renewal post 1st December 2026, Chiltern Railways is seeking to understand market readiness and the available contracting options, which may inform its long-term procurement strategy and most optimal route to market, which may be informed by this preliminary market engagement process.

CPV: Parts of railway or tramway locomotives or rolling stock; railways traffic-control equipment · Public transport services by railways · Rail locomotives and tenders · Railway equipment · Repair, maintenance and associated services related to aircraft, railways, roads and marine equipment · Rolling stock

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How CHILTERN RAIL LIMITED buys Rolling stock (CPV 3462), and who usually turns up

CHILTERN RAIL LIMITED’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: Rolling stock (CPV 3462) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCHILTERN RAIL LIMITED · all categories
The marketRolling stock (CPV 3462) · UK-wide
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 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 3462 · UK-wide, n=20
0%35%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 11 of 12 known-location awards · market: CPV 3462 · UK-wide, n=22
92%27%

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: 5 decided notices · market: CPV 3462 · UK-wide, n=5
111 days96 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 111 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 6 of 11 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3462 · UK-wide, n=27
55%67%

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 buyerNo bid counts published
The market8 lots with bid counts · CPV 3462 · UK-wide
13% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13%
Market: 1 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
2–375%
Market: 6 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
4–613%
Market: 1 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
7+0%
Market: 0 of 8 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 buyerToo few to chart: 1 lot with estimate and award, 5 needed · broad CPV 34
The market232 lots with estimate and award · division 34 · UK-wide
34% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate34%
Market: 80 of 232 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%41%
Market: 94 of 232 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate25%
Market: 58 of 232 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 3461120 monthsEstimate not published

This lot is listed as CPV 3461. The table above uses the notice category.

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 359 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet25% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 359 similar lots
1 bid25%
88 of 359 similar past lots received 1 bid (25%).
2–345%
160 of 359 similar past lots received 2–3 (45%).
4–625%
89 of 359 similar past lots received 4–6 (25%).
7+6%
22 of 359 similar past lots received 7+ (6%).
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.

—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
Unspecified in notice
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
11 Feb 2026, 14:59 GMT
Last source update
18 Mar 2026, 09:42 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-024388
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Parts of railway or tramway locomotives or rolling stock; railways traffic-control equipmentPublic transport services by railwaysRail locomotives and tendersRailway equipmentRepair, maintenance and associated services related to aircraft, railways, roads and marine equipmentRolling stock
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-064e1a Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

11 Feb 2026 → 31 Oct 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published256 days ago
    11 Feb 2026, 14:59 GMT
  2. Market engagement226 days ago
    13 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Aims of The Engagement Process

    Ascertain market readiness and the available options for Chiltern Railways to deliver its long-term maintenance strategy.

    Ascertain that any resultant long-term strategy is robust and exceeds Chiltern Railways obligations as a good and efficient operator.

    Determine the most optimal contracting model which provides resilience and value for money.

    Identify risks, opportunities & interdependencies.

    Implement Best practice and industry learning which may be adopted.

    In responding to this engagement, suppliers should provide their responses to the questions posed, detailing their approach, caveats, risks and opportunities they foresee in delivering the service. Chiltern Railways shall review the responses and where appropriate engage in further supplier interaction, which may take the form of site visits, face to face meetings or supplier events.

    Conditions of Engagement

    Suppliers participating in this process agree that this is an information gathering exercise only, and should not be interpreted as a procurement event, there shall be no evaluation or award resulting from this process by The Chiltern Railway Company. The responses obtained from this engagement may inform the most viable contracting models and expedient route to market for any subsequent procurement which may be undertaken.

    Chiltern Railways may share elements of its findings with the market, suppliers should clearly state any areas of confidentiality in their response/s to the questionnaire stating "not to be shared as part of any debriefing process".

    Chiltern Railways shall have no liability for any costs arising from this engagement which the supplier may incur as part of this process,

    Chiltern Railways acknowledges that suppliers may require clarification prior to their submission and whilst the object of this engagement is not to enter into detailed exchange of information, Chiltern Railways will aim to provide clarity where appropriate to participants where it deems appropriate.

    Commercial Sensitivity

    The supplier should advise any areas of response which they deem to be confidential, clearly stating these may not be divulged in the event of any debrief process.

    Chiltern Railways Requirements

    Chiltern Railways wishes to explore materials supply and technical support options for its Mk5a Coaches across proprietary parts i.e. those which formed part of the OEM scope at the point vehicle production and non-proprietary materials which may be commercially available. Chiltern Railways seeks to understand the supplier's methodology with regards to materials management, comprising but not limited to component procurement, stocking, warehousing, supply-chain management, repairs & returns, obsolesce management and supply chain risk mitigation to ensure the train availability regime.

    It the expected that the contract duration shall be for a period of 10 years, with a contract commencement date of the 31st October 2026 with a planned mobilisation by the 1st December 2026.

    Participation

    If you wish to participate in this engagement process, your formal acceptance is required by 16.00hrs Wednesday 18th February 2026, by registering at the Chiltern Procurement Dojo Platform and via the acceptance and return of our NDA without modification.

    Engagement Responses Deadline 16.00hrs Friday 13th March 2026.

    Please use the link and event code below to register on Market Dojo

    marketdojo.com/market-dojo-sign-up/ ↗

    Event code DBB6EFD793

    General Information

    Suppliers must register on Market Dojo Platform and it's their responsibility to ensure their participants are kept informed of the status of this activity.

    Chiltern Railways may use multiple procurement procedures in accordance with PA2023.

    Chiltern Railways welcome responses from suppliers across sectors who can demonstrate capability in the areas above.

    Suppliers are not obliged to take part in this activity and may still participate in any forthcoming ITT in accordance with the rules of participation under PA2023.

  3. Latest notice published221 days ago
    18 Mar 2026, 09:42 GMT
  4. Today
    25 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 5 days
    31 Oct 2026

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Feb 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    11 Feb 2026, 14:59 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 Mar 2026, 09:42 GMT
    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

THE CHILTERN RAILWAY COMPANY LIMITED

Contracting authorityPrivate utility GB-COH: 03007939 · GB-PPON: PNPV-7838-DRMN 1 Admiral Way, Sunderland, North East, SR3 3XPContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure