Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 25 Nov 2025, 12:57 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

The Provision of Bespoke Medical Kits, Stable Iodine and Flu Vaccines

Authority: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Central government)

GoodsAbove thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Medical Devices & Pharma (33) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£500,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 18 Dec 2025from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 19 Jan 2029 · up to 19 Jan 2032 with extensions · starts 19 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) intends to engage with the market in advance of the procurement of the Provision of Standard First Aid Kits, Bespoke Medical Kits, Stable Iodine and Flu Vaccines contract.

This notice is NOT a call for competition. It is being issued for the purpose of:

  • Informing suppliers of a forthcoming procurement
  • Informing the FCDO’s sourcing strategy
  • Gathering supplier insights via a Request for Information (link below)

Overview:

Responding to the Request for Information does not preclude from proceeding to a future stage of procurement. The contract is for the provision of essential medical goods and services for the UK Government to maintain operation at overseas missions. It covers the provision of bespoke medical kits, stable iodine and flu vaccines. The supplier shall be required to provide all the comprehensive services necessary in accordance with the regulatory standards of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Standard First Aid Kits

The FCDO requires first aid kits to ensure that we meet our obligations to staff under Health and Safety legislation for addressing minor injuries at posts in a range of environments overseas.

Bespoke Medical Kits

The FCDO requires a kitting service to ensure that we meet our requirements for delivering immediate medical treatment at posts in a range of environments overseas.

Stable Iodine

The FCDO hold a stock of stable iodine. We require a supplier to be able to store and distribute this to Hanslope Park on behalf of the FCDO, operating as a third-party logistics provider for this service.

Flu Vaccines

The FCDO requires the purchase and delivery of flu vaccines to overseas posts. This requires cold chain logistics to a range of locations around the globe.

CPV: Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSME
Contract period: 19 Jan 2026 – 19 Jan 2029 (3 yrs) · up to 19 Jan 2032 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office buys Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals (CPV 33), and who usually turns up

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’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: Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals (CPV 33) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
The marketMedical equipments, pharmaceuticals (CPV 33) · Greater London (authority’s region)
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: 113 of 380 known-size awards · market: division 33 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=95
30%24%

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 Greater London (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 of 14 known-location awards · market: division 33 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=116
57%17%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

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: 48 decided notices · market: division 33 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=8
71 days53 days

Half of these awards were announced within 71 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 80 of 479 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 33 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=156
17%72%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

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 buyer138 lots with bid counts · all categories
14% had one bid
The market37 lots with bid counts · division 33 · Greater London (authority’s region)
32% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid14% / 32%
Buyer: 20 of 138 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
2–354% / 41%
Buyer: 75 of 138 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 3%
Buyer: 34 of 138 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
7+7% / 24%
Buyer: 9 of 138 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 37 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 buyer43 lots with estimate and award · all categories
33% below estimate
The market6 lots with estimate and award · division 33 · Greater London (authority’s region)
17% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate33% / 17%
Buyer: 14 of 43 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%35% / 83%
Buyer: 15 of 43 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate33% / 0%
Buyer: 14 of 43 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 6 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 #136 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£500k
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 37 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet32% single-bid risk
Past bids on 37 similar lots
1 bid32%
12 of 37 similar past lots received 1 bid (32%).
2–341%
15 of 37 similar past lots received 2–3 (41%).
4–63%
1 of 37 similar past lots received 4–6 (3%).
7+24%
9 of 37 similar past lots received 7+ (24%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 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 £500k, 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
Goods
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
25 Nov 2025, 12:57 GMT
Last source update
25 Nov 2025, 13:01 GMT
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-076855
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e851 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

25 Nov 2025 → 19 Jan 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published330 days ago
    25 Nov 2025, 12:57 GMT
  2. Market engagement316 days ago
    9 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Suppliers interested in participating in the Request for Information can do so by using the following link:

    forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

    NOTE:

    • No procurement documents are available at this stage.
    • This PPN does NOT formally commence a procurement procedure.
    • Responding to this PPN or participating in any engagement activity will not confer any advantage in any future procurement.
    • Participation is entirely voluntary and does NOT form part of any future selection process.
    • FCDO reserves the right NOT to commence a procurement, amend the approach, or change timelines based on internal or external factors.
  3. Tender notice expected307 days ago
    18 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts276 days ago
    19 Jan 2026

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 25 Nov 2025
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    25 Nov 2025, 12:57 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    25 Nov 2025, 13:01 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

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PXRR-8771-PHVX King Charles Street, London, London, SW1A 2AHContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure