Official UK procurement notice
THE PROVISION OF A FRAMEWORK FOR THE SUPPLY OF BRANDED & GENERIC WASHROOM PAPER DISPOSABLES
Authority: Hertfordshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought2 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionHertfordshire County Council acting on behalf of the Participating Authorities is leading on the procurement process to establish a Framework Agreement for the Supply and purchase of Branded & Generic Washroom Paper Disposables and Dispensers (herein after referred to as “Good(s)”), and is seeking suitably qualified Contractor(s) to supply the Good(s) and any related Services under any Agreement resulting from this tendering exercise.
The participating Authorities both produce annual paper catalogues which are printed and distributed to customers each year, the publication generally runs from 1st April – 31st March each year. Customers may choose and select products listed in the catalogue at their discretion. Customers include schools and local authority establishments who are geographically spread across the UK.
Details of the Good(s) required under this Agreement are given in Section 7 of this Specification (Good(s) Requirement).
The requirement is for delivery of the Good(s) in bulk drops to their central stores. The method of delivery and palletisation will be as stated in Section 11 and 14 of this Specification (Delivery and Pallets).
However, there may be a requirement for direct orders placed by and delivered directly to the End User.
Read the full description (4,031 more characters)
1.1 The requirement is divided into Two Lots:
Lot 1: Branded paper consumables
- (must be exact brand to match product specified in pricing schedule, otherwise tenderers bid will not be accepted)
Lot 2: Generic/ HFS own brand paper consumables
- (any brand will be accepted as long as it meets the dimensions detailed in pricing schedule, otherwise bid will not be accepted)
The authorities that are currently participating in this Agreement are listed below:
Hampshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council (Contracting Authority)
(including Herts Full Stop, Any and all unitary authorities that arise out local government reorganisation, Herts Full Stop Limited , Hertfordshire Catering Limited, , Herts at Home, , and any other future trading arm, wholly owned company, mutual, joint venture, trust and shared service of the Council. and any other future trading arm, wholly owned company, mutual, joint venture, trust and shared service of the Council.)
Correspondence addresses for the above authorities are given in Schedule 8 of the Agreement.
The pattern and volume of demand for Good(s) may be subject to change and it is stressed that there are no undertakings concerning likely volume of demand. For guidance only, an estimated overall annual spend across all Lots for each Participating Authority is given below.
The Participating Authorities do not undertake to purchase that quantity and equally the Contractor should be prepared to supply quantities in excess of the figures shown.
The anticipated total annual joint expenditure across the Participating Authorities on these Good(s) across all Lots is presently circa £2.475 million per annum, however the estimated annual range for all Customers and all Lots is between £2 million and £5.2 million.
The estimated annual spend by each Participating Authority can be broken down as follows:
Hampshire County Council £975,000
Hertfordshire County Council £1,500,000
Total value range (incl all extensions): £8m - £20.8m
Full details of the requirement and context of the procurement can be found in the Specification of the Tender Document.
This procurement is an open process.
Organisations wishing to take part in this project are invited to 'express an interest' and also 'opt in' which will give access to the full procurement documents in the e-tendering system.
To be considered as a Tenderer you must complete and submit a Tender by the deadline of 12 noon on the Thursday 22nd October 2026.
Please allow sufficient time to make your return, as Tender submissions cannot be uploaded and submitted after this return deadline.
Please ensure that where possible documents are uploaded as a PDF and that file names are succinct.
Any questions relating to this procurement must be made via correspondence on the website, in accordance with the procurement documents, and can be addressed to the main contact as shown in the details above.
Tenderers should be aware that due to the nature of the Services provided, any Framework formed as a result of this procurement process shall be executed as a deed. Tenderers should seek independent legal advice on the implications of this prior to submitting their Tender, where appropriate. Please note that the Framework requirements will be subject to available financial resources, supplier performance and flexibility to meet changing demands.
To access this opportunity please visit https://in-tendhost.co.uk/supplyhertfordshire/aspx/Home.
If you are experiencing problems In-Tend offer a help section which includes a dedicated UK support desk which can be contacted via email: [email protected] or Telephone: +44 1144070065 for any website/technical questions, Monday to Friday, 8:30-17:00.
The Council reserves the right at any time to cease the procurement process and not award the Framework or to award only part of the opportunity described in this notice. If the Council takes up this right, then they will not be responsible for or pay the expenses or losses, which may be incurred by any organisation or tenderer as a result.
CPV: Toilet paper, handkerchiefs, hand towels and serviettes
How this framework works
From the published notice- Type
- Closed framework
- Call-offs
- call-offs may be awarded directly or by further competition
- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 2 Jan 2027
Published description of the framework
If the Council decides to source Services through the Framework, then it may satisfy its requirements for Services by awarding a Contract through a direct award or following a Mini Competition conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Framework. Full details are in the tender document set.
Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure
2 lots · all with a published value · same conditions of participation on every lot · same evaluation weights on every lotLot #1Branded Paper ConsumablesPublished value£0
- Value
- £0 exc. VAT · £0 inc. VAT
Lot #2Generic / HFS Own Brand Paper ConsumablesPublished value£0
- Value
- £0 exc. VAT · £0 inc. VAT
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published award criteria (2)
- Quality — Weightings - Price 80%, Quality 20%. Please refer to Section 4 of the Instructions to Tenderers for a full breakdown of the Award Criteria.
- Price — Weightings - Price 80%, Quality 20%. Please refer to Section 4 of the Instructions to Tenderers for a full breakdown of the Award Criteria.
- Economic & financial standingPlease refer to the Instructions to Tenderers document.
- Technical & professional abilityPlease refer to the Instructions to Tenderers document.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Hertfordshire County Council buys Toilet paper, handkerchiefs, hand towels and serviettes (CPV 3376) — and who usually turns up
Hertfordshire County Council’s own published record, next to the East of England market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Toilet paper, handkerchiefs, hand towels and serviettes (CPV 3376) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested frameworks and DPS only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Hertfordshire County Council
framework/DPS notices in 36 months: 1 in CPV 3376 · 2 in division 33 (1 route not published) · 46 in all categories (14 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 108 lots. 29 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 5) and 79 from older notices (bids received, middle 6).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 108 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 23 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 10 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.
Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 218 notices.
i
How often this buyer awards without a competition.
Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 32 notices.
East of England · Toilet paper, handkerchiefs, hand towels and serviettes (CPV 3376)
framework/DPS notices delivered in East of England in 36 months: 1 in CPV 3376 (1 competed) · 141 in division 33 (71 competed, 13 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 33), last 36 months: 62 lots. 49 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 6) and 13 from older notices (bids received, middle 28).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 33), last 36 months: 62 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Nothing published for this region in this sector: not measured on frameworks — a panel award is a ceiling, not a price.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 33), last 36 months: 29 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 33), last 36 months: 58 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 33), last 36 months: 131 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
This notice gives one total for several lots, so we show the percentage but do not turn it into pounds.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Who you are likely to meet i
Who you may be up against.
Suppliers on this buyer’s earlier similar contracts, and suppliers whose record fits this tender.
A guess from the record. Buyers do not publish who is bidding.
i
Who you may be up against.
Suppliers on this buyer’s earlier similar contracts, and suppliers whose record fits this tender.
A guess from the record. Buyers do not publish who is bidding.
Suppliers on this authority’s earlier similar contracts, then suppliers with a matching track record — from published award history, not a bid list
Already supplying a similar contract to Hertfordshire County Council i
Who holds similar work with this buyer now.
Winners of this buyer’s earlier contracts that match this tender by title, lot, buyer and category.
i
Who holds similar work with this buyer now.
Winners of this buyer’s earlier contracts that match this tender by title, lot, buyer and category.
Earlier contracts of this authority that the nightly matcher links to this notice by title, lot, buyer and CPV. Open the contract before treating anyone as the incumbent.
By lot · 2 lots i
Likely bidders for each lot.
For each lot: the previous winner, suppliers with history on this lot, and suppliers strong in this category.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
i
Likely bidders for each lot.
For each lot: the previous winner, suppliers with history on this lot, and suppliers strong in this category.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
| Lot | Awarded / admitted | Likely suppliers |
|---|---|---|
| All 2 lotsFrom winners of the previous framework cycle (not a lot assignment on this notice). | — |
|
Ranked by CPV market fit, scale and buyer history — historical public-sector wins, not the published bidder list or a predicted field. Lots with the same shortlist are grouped.
Suppliers with a similar track record — and how they price i
Suppliers with a similar track record, and how they price.
Suppliers matched on wins in this category, history with this buyer, location and size. Their award vs estimate is from their own past wins.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
i
Suppliers with a similar track record, and how they price.
Suppliers matched on wins in this category, history with this buyer, location and size. Their award vs estimate is from their own past wins.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
| Supplier | Evidence | Last award | Their award vs estimate | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DS Smith Packaging Limited Large | 1 class wins | 6 months ago | no comparable pairs | 45% |
| Banner Group Ltd. Large | 7 class wins · 9 lots for this buyer | this month | 8% below n=4 | 44% |
| Merton Group (UK) Limited Large | 2 class wins | 31 months ago | no comparable pairs | 40% |
Matched by the nightly worker on class wins, buyer history, delivery geography, scale and notice text; relevance is a 0–100% heuristic score, not a probability of bidding. “Their award vs estimate” is that supplier’s median on its own comparable single-supplier wins, CPV 3376 first. Nobody here is known to be bidding.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Open admission
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 21 Sept 2026, 16:55 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Sept 2026, 16:55 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 24 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Authority reference
HCC2416201- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0776ddFind a Tender- Contract terms summary
- Invoices are to be submitted to the Council, in accordance with the Prices and Payment clause in the Conditions of the Framework. Payment will normally be made within thirty (30) days of receipt of a correct invoice.
- Risks
In February 2025 the UK Government formally invited Hertfordshire County Council (the ”Council”) and the various district and borough Councils of Hertfordshire to develop proposals for local government reorganisation in Hertfordshire with the aim of re-organising the current two-tier system of local government into a more…
single tier of local government with one or more unitary councils for the whole of the Hertfordshire area. Local government reorganisation is expected to take effect on 1 April 2028, and, on that date, the existing two-tier councils will be dissolved and replaced by four new unitary authorities (being (1) West Hertfordshire (2) South West Hertfordshire (3) Central Hertfordshire and (4) East Hertfordshire and Broxbourne). Existing contracts held by the Council and the district and borough Councils of Hertfordshire are expected to transfer to their successor authorities on vesting day in accordance with the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and the Local Government (Structural Changes) (Transfer of Functions, Property, Rights and Liabilities) Regulations 2008. These reforms could be subject to change at any time. As these reforms may occur during the term of this contract and result in changes to the form, structure, size and shape of local government in Hertfordshire, they are a known risk to the Council within the meaning of paragraph 6, Schedule 8 of the Procurement Act 2023 (Act) in that the reforms could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract but because the nature and extent of the reforms are presently unknown, it is not possible to address the risks in the contract. If these risks materialise, the contract may need to be modified under paragraph 5 of Schedule 8 of the Act. Such modification could include, but not be limited to, the need to replace the contracting authority with a successor public authority and/or vary the structure, scope, nature and/or geographical location/boundary within which the contract is delivered. Tenderers should note that any variation(s) to the terms and conditions of the contract will be made in accordance with its terms.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Apply via In-tend- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Appointment period ends
- 22 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 2 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
- Participation fee
- success fee · 3% of the award value · The Participating Authorities require a fixed 3% rebate on their own individual spend. This rebate is to be paid every six (6) months to each Participating Authority. Tenderers need to be aware that this is a requirement when agreeing to the Specification within the Response Document.
Timeline
5 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice published1 day ago21 Sept 2026, 16:55 BST
- Clarification questions byin 9 days2 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Admission / appointment period endsin 29 days · period end, not a bid countdown22 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected byin 63 days24 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 101 days2 Jan 2027, 00:00 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published21 Sept 2026, 16:55 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Please either register or log in to the above web address, and then 'express interest' and 'opt in' in order to view the full set of documentation relating to this tender opportunity.
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender