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Published 21 Sept 2026, 14:46 BST

Official UK procurement notice

UK_1527 Corporate and Fine Art Insurance Brokerage Services

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: British Council (Local council)

2 lotsServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Financial and insurance services (66) Delivery: UK
Published estimate £8,080,000envelope for 2 lots · £9,696,000 inc. VAT
Submission deadline 19 Oct 202611:00 BST · 27d 18h left
Clarification cut-off 6 Oct 202623:59 BST · questions to the authority
Contract term 8 yrsstarts 1 Feb 2027
Bids per lot · this authority 4all categories · n=57 · competition analysis ↓

What is being bought2 lots · detail below

Published requirement description

British Council is seeking brokerage services for our Lot 1 Centrally managed corporate insurance policy placement and Lot 2 Fine Art.

  • How the procedure runs: The procedure will comprise an initial tender stage, followed by supplier clarification session and a Best and FINAL Tender stage.

CPV: Insurance services

Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure

2 lots · all with a published value (£8,080,000 together) · evaluation weights differ by lot
Lot #1Centrally-managed corporate insurance policy placement 8 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£7,200,000
The British Council currently holds the following lines of insurance, Centrally-managed corporate insurance policy placement
Contract period: 1 Feb 2027 — 31 Jan 2035 (8 yrs)Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligibleDelivery: UKTurnover guideline: ~£1,798,768/yr≈ 2× annual value
Value
£7,200,000 exc. VAT · £8,640,000 inc. VAT
66510000 Insurance services
Award criteria (1)
Price: 100%
Published sub-criteria (1)
  • Social value 10, service team 15, service provision 20, service std 10, implementation 5, commercial 40 — 100%

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Lot #2Fine Art brokerage services 8 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£880,000
Fine Art brokerage services, Fine Art brokerage services
Contract period: 1 Feb 2027 — 31 Jan 2035 (8 yrs)Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligibleDelivery: UKTurnover guideline: ~£219,849/yr≈ 2× annual value
Value
£880,000 exc. VAT · £1,056,000 inc. VAT
66510000 Insurance services
Award criteria (1)
Quality: 100%
Published sub-criteria (1)
  • Lot 2 Fine Art — 100%

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add more
How bids are scored

Lots publish different evaluation splits — there is no single procedure weighting.

LotPriceQualitySplit
1 · Centrally-managed corporate insurance policy placement100%—
2 · Fine Art brokerage services—100%

No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How British Council buys Insurance services (CPV 6651) — and who usually turns up

British Council’s own published record, next to the Greater London market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Insurance services (CPV 6651) →

1

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 contracts 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.

This authority

British Council

contract notices in 36 months: 5 in CPV 6651 · 15 in division 66 · 363 in all categories

Bids per lot4all categories · 36m · n=57 lots
Single-bid lots7%all categories · 36m · n=57 lots
Award vs estimate2% belowall categories · 36m · n=26 pairs
Deadline → award date31dall categories · 36m · n=57 notices
Notice updates0all categories · 24m · n=470 notices
Awarded without competition0%CPV 6651 · 36m · n=5 notices
Bids per lot · history, not this notice’s lots robust · n=57
  • 1 bid 7%
  • 2–3 37%
  • 4–6 33%
  • 7+ 23%

Median 4 · 57 lots on 56 contested notices · all categories.

Winning award vs estimate robust · n=26
  • Below estimate 54%
  • Within ±2% 27%
  • Above estimate 19%

26 lot pairs · all categories.

The market · authority’s region

Greater London · Insurance services (CPV 6651)

contract notices delivered in Greater London in 36 months: 62 in CPV 6651 (53 contested) · 193 in division 66 (156 contested) · the notice publishes no delivery location, so the authority’s registered region is used

Bids per lot3CPV 6651 · 36m · n=50 lots
Single-bid lots18%CPV 6651 · 36m · n=50 lots
Award vs estimate23% belowCPV 6651 · 36m · n=16 pairs
Deadline → award date64dCPV 6651 · 36m · n=11 notices
SME bidders9%CPV 6651 · 36m · n=33 lots
Winners based in the region78%CPV 6651 · 36m · n=46 awards
Bids per lot · history, not this notice’s lots robust · n=50
  • 1 bid 18%
  • 2–3 50%
  • 4–6 30%
  • 7+ 2%

Median 3 · 50 lots on 19 contested notices · CPV 6651.

Winning award vs estimate robust · n=16
  • Below estimate 56%
  • Within ±2% 19%
  • Above estimate 25%

16 lot pairs · CPV 6651.

robust · n=26 Awards in British Council (all categories, n=26 pairs) land a median 2% below. Applied to each lot’s own published value in the lot table below — the notice total (£8,080,000) is an envelope for 2 lots and is not converted.

Method and what to read with care
  • Two columns, no blending. The authority column walks its own record only: notices in the 4-digit class, then the 2-digit division, then all categories (36 months, per lot, contested only), and as a last resort its 24-month row across all categories (per lot, contested contract notices). The market column is the notice’s primary delivery ITL1 × the same class, then division (36 months). Nothing is filled from the UK-wide class; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable.
  • Per lot, contested only. Find a Tender publishes bid counts per lot; a seven-lot tender is seven contests. Procedures awarded without competition (limited / direct) are excluded from bids, price pairs and decision days — they report one bid by definition. Frameworks and DPS are a separate population from contracts (6–7 bids per lot against 2–4) and only the notice’s own kind is shown.
  • 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). Award-vs-estimate pairs need a lot estimate, one active award on the lot, one canonical supplier and a gap under 60 %; about 30 % of pairs are exact matches (the buyer published the award at the estimate). n is on every figure; below 3 the tile is muted, never hidden.
  • Pounds. The expected award applies the authority’s median movement (or the region’s, when the authority has fewer than 3 pairs) to this notice’s estimate; the middle half uses the region’s quartiles. A multi-lot notice publishes an envelope, so the movement is applied per lot, never to the total. A benchmark, not a recommended price.
  • “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
Competitive flexible procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Open for tender
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
No (one-off requirement)
First published
21 Sept 2026, 14:46 BST
Last source update
21 Sept 2026, 14:46 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end — 9 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Insurance services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07769d Find a Tender
How it runs
The procedure will comprise an initial tender stage, followed by supplier clarification session and a Best and FINAL Tender stage.

How to participate & submission route

Official notice Submit via TCS TAP eSourcing
Submission portal named on this notice: TCS TAP eSourcing
Supplier login requiredElectronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free
Expression of interest (EOI)
—
Tender submission deadline
19 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
Clarification deadline
6 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
First time registration, remains the same: tap.tcsapps.com/tap2/ ↗ To access once the supplier has been registered, this one has changed: tap.tcsapps.com/tap2/ ↗

Timeline

5 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Tender notice publishedearlier today
    21 Sept 2026, 14:46 BST
  2. Clarification questions byin 15 days
    6 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  3. Submission deadlinein 28 days
    19 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
  4. Award decision expected byin 79 days
    9 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 132 days
    1 Feb 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
  1. Tender notice published
    21 Sept 2026, 14:46 BSTUK4

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

BRITISH COUNCIL(THE)

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-COH: RC000060 · GB-PPON: PHTN-1551-GCQH 1 Redman Place, Stratford,, London, London, E20 1JQ

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Conflict of interest declarationtenderConflict of interest declarationNot published

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender