Official UK procurement notice
The Gobbins Visitor Centre Interpretation Project
Authority: Mid and east Antrim Borough Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionMid and East Antrim Borough Council is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to establish a contract with an experienced and qualified supplier to provide a full design and works service for an 'Interpretation Project at The Gobbins Visitor Centre', Middle Road, Islandmagee BT40 3SL, to be delivered by 31 October 2026.
The Gobbins is owned and operated by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and stands as a unique cliffside attraction along Northern Ireland's famous Causeway Coastal Route. Visitors embark on a dramatic journey along suspended walkways, tunnels, and bridges carved directly into the basalt cliffs, offering stunning views of the Irish Sea, encounters with local wildlife, and a close-up look at the area's remarkable geology. The current visitor experience combines expertly guided tours available throughout the year, informative outdoor signage, and a modern Visitor Centre with café and associated community centre.
CPV: Aerial photography services · Artistic and literary creation and interpretation services · Building consultancy services · Building services consultancy services · Interpretation services · Specialised photography services · Specialty design services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Mid and east Antrim Borough Council buys Interpretation services (CPV 7954), and who usually turns up
Mid and east Antrim Borough 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: Interpretation services (CPV 7954) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 38 days of the bid deadline.
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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.
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?
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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 bid64% / 24%
2–30% / 27%
4–636% / 28%
7+0% / 21%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate50% / 18%
Within ±2%17% / 67%
Above estimate33% / 14%
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.
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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 7131Estimate not published
This lot is listed as CPV 7131. The table above uses the notice category.
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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 37 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid11%
2–324%
4–649%
7+16%
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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.
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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
- 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
- 12 Dec 2025, 12:38 GMT
- Last source update
- 12 Dec 2025, 12:38 GMT
- Authority reference
T730/AD- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-082445- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f4c3Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
12 Dec 2025 → 1 Mar 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published318 days ago12 Dec 2025, 12:38 GMT
- Market engagement308 days ago22 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
Interested parties are requested to complete this questionnaire and return it by 12noon on Monday 22nd December 2025.
Any requests for clarification relating to this exercise must be communicated using the secure messaging function on the esourcingNI portal.
Responses to requests for clarification will be communicated by the Construction and Procurement Delivery to all interested suppliers through the esourcingNI messaging system.
Your response must be uploaded within the esourcingNI portal via the relevant Call for Tender (CfT) clarifications messaging function. Instructions on how to submit your response can be found within the Interactive Walkthrough available through the homepage of the portal.
- Tender notice expected277 days ago22 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts240 days ago1 Mar 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published12 Dec 2025, 12:38 GMTUK2
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