Official UK procurement notice
Travel Management Service · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Sheffield Hallam University (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe University requires a Travel Management Company (TMC) to deliver a comprehensive travel management service supporting both staff and student travel across a wide range of academic, research, and operational activities.
This requirement forms part of the University's wider objective to implement a travel management service that improves the overall booking experience, enhances visibility and control of travel activity and expenditure, and strengthens the support available to travellers.
The TMC will be expected to provide an end-to-end travel management solution that includes:
Booking flights, rail, ground transportation, accommodation, and associated travel services
Supporting both individual and group travel requirements for staff and students
Providing intuitive online booking tools alongside assisted booking support for complex itineraries
Ensuring compliance with University travel policies, approval workflows, and financial controls
Negotiating competitive rates and delivering demonstrable value for money
Providing responsive support for last-minute changes, disruptions, and emergency situations
Supporting the University's duty of care obligations, including traveller tracking and risk management
Delivering comprehensive management information and reporting to support monitoring, analysis, and continuous improvement of travel activity and spend
Travel is a key enabler of the University's teaching, research, and student experience. Staff travel supports conferences, research collaboration, and operational activity, while student travel underpins field trips, placements, and academic programmes.
The Authority anticipates that travel management services will be delivered through a transaction-based or percentage fee model,
CPV: Travel agency and similar services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Sheffield Hallam University buys Travel agency and similar services (CPV 6351), and who usually turns up
Sheffield Hallam University’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: Travel agency and similar services (CPV 6351) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 83 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid8% / 25%
2–331% / 25%
4–631% / 31%
7+31% / 19%
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.
Below estimate0% / 13%
Within ±2%88% / 63%
Above estimate13% / 25%
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.
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 6351Published estimate£100k
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 16 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid25%
2–325%
4–631%
7+19%
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.
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.
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.
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
- 30 Mar 2026, 19:58 BST
- Last source update
- 30 Mar 2026, 19:58 BST
- Authority reference
2526-07-FIN-COR-OA- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-029362- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067868Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
30 Mar 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published211 days ago30 Mar 2026, 19:58 BST
- Market engagement195 days ago15 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
The University is conducting a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) to gather market insight and inform the development of a future Travel Management Service for staff and students.
This engagement allows suppliers to:
Share expertise, service models, and innovations
Provide feedback on the proposed service scope
Highlight best practices in travel management
The University will also engage internal stakeholders to ensure the service reflects user needs and addresses current challenges.
Feedback from this process will be used to:
Refine requirements
Design a service that is efficient, compliant, and user-focused
This is not a call for competition and will not be used to evaluate suppliers.
Further details and invitations will be shared with suppliers who register their interest.
Submission of Expressions of Interest
Suppliers wishing to participate should register their interest through the University's procurement portal.
in-tendhost.co.uk/sheffieldhallamunive… ↗
Upon registration, suppliers will be given access to the PME documentation and any supporting materials.
Clarification Questions and Feedback
Suppliers may submit clarification questions and feedback through the procurement portal by the stated deadline in the PME document.
Responses to clarification questions may be shared with all participating suppliers to ensure transparency.
Important Notice
This engagement exercise is being undertaken in accordance with the principles of the Procurement Act 2023 and does not constitute a formal call for competition.
Participation in this exercise will not influence the evaluation of any future procurement process.
- Contract starts57 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published30 Mar 2026, 19:58 BSTUK2
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