Official UK procurement notice
Wastewater Testing · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Ministry of Justice (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Ministry of Justice recognises the potential of prison wastewater testing in offering insight into the health of the prison population. The intended procurement is for the provision of wastewater sampling, laboratory analysis, reporting and associated monitoring technology.
CPV: Data analysis services · Drug detection apparatus
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Ministry of Justice buys Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring (CPV 3854), and who usually turns up
Ministry of Justice’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: Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring (CPV 3854) →
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.
Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 53 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 bid10% / 50%
2–358% / 50%
4–620% / 0%
7+12% / 0%
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 estimate54% / 57%
Within ±2%31% / 29%
Above estimate15% / 14%
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 3854Published estimate£4.8m
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 10 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid30%
2–340%
4–620%
7+10%
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- 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
- 16 Apr 2026, 10:59 BST
- Last source update
- 15 Sept 2026, 13:19 BST
- Authority reference
prj_16912- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-087294- Latest notice
- Pipeline notice (UK1)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0683e0Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
16 Apr 2026 → 31 Mar 2028 · 5 dates- Planning notice published188 days ago16 Apr 2026, 10:59 BST
- Market engagement165 days ago8 May 2026, 23:59 BST
We are keen to hear from suppliers to better understand the appetite, capability and capacity to deliver this requirement which will support with the development of any future procurement for this Service.
A Market Engagement Questionnaire has been developed and we invite responses via the link below:
forms.office.com/e/WkM8gYzSG0 ↗
The deadline for completion of the Market Engagement Questionnaire is 23:59hrs on Friday 8 May 2026.
This Market Engagement exercise does not commit the Authority to a formal procurement and any information provided in this questionnaire is subject to change.
- Latest notice published35 days ago15 Sept 2026, 13:19 BST
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 81 days9 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts31 Mar 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
6 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 Apr 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 Apr 2026, 10:59 BSTUK2
- Pipeline notice published9 Sept 2026, 12:07 BSTUK1
- Published value updated to £4,850,0009 Sept 2026, 12:07 BSTwas £8,000,000
- Status changed to planned9 Sept 2026, 12:07 BST
- Procurement method changed9 Sept 2026, 12:07 BST
- Pipeline notice published15 Sept 2026, 13:19 BSTUK1
Published amendments (1)
The UK2 Notice automatically pre-populated content within the UK1 Notice, including reference to a supplier questionnaire as part of the market engagement process. However, market engagement has now concluded and the questionnaire is no longer active. The purpose of this UK1 Notice is solely to keep the market informed of the Authority's current intentions and anticipated timelines for the forthco…
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 (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender