Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 13 Oct 2026, 11:32 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Vehicle Workshop Maintenance Services

Authority: Reading Borough Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Dec 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 1 Sept 2030 · starts 1 Sept 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The objectives of this project are to have successfully procured a vehicle workshop maintenance service which meets the needs of the Council's requirements.

The requirements of RBC are expected to be divided into the following lots where suppliers may bid for one, more, or for All Lots.

For the purposes of this contract, RBC provides (rent free) four dedicated workshops located at the Reading operations depot. However, the successful provider may also use its own workshop.

Lot 1 - Waste Services (RCVs, Food and Glass Collection Vehicles 7.5t to 27t)

Lot 2 - Sweepers and Gully Vehicles 4.5t to 15t

Lot 3 - Cars and Vans up to 3.5t

Lot 4 - LCV Tippers 3.5t

Lot 5 - HGV Tippers 4.5t to 18t

CPV: Repair and maintenance services · Specialist vehicles

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrs

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

How Reading Borough Council buys Passenger cars (CPV 3411), and who usually turns up

Reading Borough Council’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: Passenger cars (CPV 3411) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerReading Borough Council · all categories
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: 18 of 35 known-size awards · market: CPV 3411 · South East England, n=8
51%13%

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 South East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 13 of 38 known-location awards · market: CPV 3411 · South East England, n=16
34%56%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South East England.

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: 27 decided notices · market: CPV 3411 · UK-wide, n=8
55 days54 days

Half of these awards were announced within 55 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 32 of 54 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3411 · South East England, n=19
59%47%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer38 lots with bid counts · all categories
39% had one bid
The market26 lots with bid counts · CPV 3411 · UK-wide
15% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid39% / 15%
Buyer: 15 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
2–316% / 31%
Buyer: 6 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
4–621% / 46%
Buyer: 8 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 26 lots with published bid counts.
7+24% / 8%
Buyer: 9 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 26 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 buyer23 lots with estimate and award · all categories
26% below estimate
The market14 lots with estimate and award · CPV 3411 · UK-wide
36% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate26% / 36%
Buyer: 6 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 14 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%70% / 36%
Buyer: 16 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 14 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate4% / 29%
Buyer: 1 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 14 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 #1CPV 341136 monthsEstimate not published
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 35 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet31% single-bid risk
Past bids on 35 similar lots
1 bid31%
11 of 35 similar past lots received 1 bid (31%).
2–337%
13 of 35 similar past lots received 2–3 (37%).
4–617%
6 of 35 similar past lots received 4–6 (17%).
7+14%
5 of 35 similar past lots received 7+ (14%).
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

No supplier with a record in this category fits this lot yet.

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 match score 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
13 Oct 2026, 11:32 BST
Last source update
13 Oct 2026, 11:32 BST
Authority reference
26-S-052
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096465
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Repair and maintenance servicesSpecialist vehicles
Delivery area
South East (UKJ11)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078660 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

13 Oct 2026 → 1 Sept 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published1 day ago
    13 Oct 2026, 11:32 BST
  2. Today
    14 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 1 day
    15 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST

    This market engagement event is designed to introduce the strategy and objectives for the Vehicle Workshop Maintenance Service for Reading Borough Council.

    The contract is expected to commence in September 2027. At this stage, we are inviting potential providers to express their interest in participating in Stage 2 - the Invitation to Tender (ITT).

  4. Tender notice expectedin 49 days
    1 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 322 days
    1 Sept 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    13 Oct 2026, 11:32 BST
    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

Reading Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PWBJ-9435-VXQQ Bridge Street, Reading, South East, RG1 2LUContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure