Official UK procurement notice
UK4 - Tender Notice — UK public procurement notice
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis Tender Notice constitutes the Authority's Call for Competition.
The requirement is for a 5 year contract from 1st April 2027 until 21st April 2032. A five year Defence contract beginning 1st April 2027 for the provision of ‘Be Seen Be Safer’ High Visibility Campaign. The campaign supports the safety of horse riders, horses and military aircrew by providing high-visibility equipment in areas routinely overflown by low-flying military helicopters, across the UK. This existing contract expires 21st April 2032 and a replacement contract is required to ensure continuity of delivery of this safety initiative.
The Authority is committed to reducing barriers to participation for SMEs and suppliers that are new to Defence procurement. Suppliers are encouraged to use the Clarification Question process via the Defence Sourcing Portal to seek clarification on any aspect of the procurement documentation, terminology or requirements. All Clarification Questions, Tender submissions and procurement correspondence must be submitted through the Defence Sourcing Portal.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 21 Apr 2032, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Protective gear
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1Published value£177,005
- Value
- £177,005 exc. VAT · £221,256 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).
- Value for Money Index
- Economic & financial standingPlease refer to Q. 3.1 Financial Assessment of the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ).
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Ministry of Defence buys Workwear accessories (CPV 1814) — and who usually turns up
Ministry of Defence’s own published record, next to the South East England market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Workwear accessories (CPV 1814) →
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.
Ministry of Defence
contract notices in 36 months: 3 in CPV 1814 (1 route not published) · 8 in division 18 (1 without competition · 3 route not published) · 1,261 in all categories (482 without competition · 219 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 this industry (CPV 18), last 36 months: 3 lots. All 3 lots are from older notices, which count bids received.
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 this industry (CPV 18), last 36 months: 3 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 36 months: 129 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: 79 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: 1,154 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 this industry (CPV 18), last 36 months: 5 notices.
South East England · Workwear accessories (CPV 1814)
contract notices delivered in South East England in 36 months: 4 in CPV 1814 (2 competed, 1 route not published) · 42 in division 18 (25 competed, 9 route not published) · the notice publishes no delivery location, so the authority’s registered region is used
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 18), last 36 months: 16 lots. 9 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 5) and 7 from older notices (bids received, middle 8).
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 18), last 36 months: 16 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 region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 18), last 36 months: 9 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 region’s tenders in this industry (CPV 18), last 36 months: 6 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 18), last 36 months: 12 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 18), last 36 months: 17 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.
Based on this buyer’s own usual movement over 129 lots (all categories), applied to the £177,005 estimate on this notice.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
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 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
- Yes · next expected 21 Apr 2032
- First published
- 5 Oct 2026, 15:20 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Oct 2026, 15:20 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 2 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0780f8Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 30 Oct 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
5 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedearlier today5 Oct 2026, 15:20 BST
- Clarification questions byin 11 days16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 25 days30 Oct 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 58 days2 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 177 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
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 published5 Oct 2026, 15:20 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
- Bidding documents and specifications
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender