Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Weed Control Contract · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Cardiff Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£1,200,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 31 Mar 2031 · starts 1 Apr 2027
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

The services required under this contract involve the successful contractor to undertake application of a range of pesticides and fertilisers and hand weeding across arrange of publicly accessible spaces located the city and county of Cardiff, the area of work covers the city’s 500 parks, over 300 housing estates, 2000km highway pavements but also includes special sites such as Cardiff Bay, cemeteries, Cardiff Castle and public rights of way. The aim of the contract is to manage weed growth to the required standards on a variety of hard surfaces, planted areas, walls, sport surfaces (natural and artificial), and control the spread of noxious weeds (such as Japanese Knotweed). These services must be delivered in accordance with the Government’s National Action Plan (NAP) so the contractor will be required to utilise the latest pesticide application technology to ensure that they comply with this and minimise the quantity of pesticides used to deliver the standards of control specified.

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Pre-Market Engagement Weed Control Contract

The services required under this contract involve the successful contractor to undertake application of a range of pesticides and fertilisers and hand weeding across arrange of publicly accessible spaces located the city and county of Cardiff, the area of work covers the city’s 500 parks, over 300 housing estates, 2000km highway pavements but also includes special sites such as Cardiff Bay, cemeteries, Cardiff Castle and public rights of way.

The aim of the contract is to manage weed growth to the required standards on a variety of hard surfaces, planted areas, walls, sport surfaces (natural and artificial), and control the spread of noxious weeds (such as Japanese Knotweed). Further to this there may be additional work added to include maintenance of Sustainable Drainage features and Green Roofs.

These services must be delivered in accordance with the Government’s National Action Plan (NAP) so the contractor will be required to utilise the latest pesticide application technology to ensure that they comply with this and minimise the quantity of pesticides used to deliver the standards of control specified. Under this contract Cardiff Council will also require the contractor to reduce the volume of pesticide being used year on year over the period of the contract. The client will work with the contractor to help achieve this by increasing use of hand weeding, sweeping and mulching over the contract period.

The successful contractor will be required to hold several of the following independently awarded industry specific quality certificates and schemes before they can tender –

Amenity Assured Certificate

BASIS qualification

BASIS Advanced Contract certification

Amenity Assured Certification

Either ISO 14001 or BS9002 Or European equivalent certifications.

The contractor will be supplied with digital plans of the areas of work which will be provided as either .shp or .pdf and the contractor will be required to employ a digital system to record their work daily on either a stand-alone system or a shared system to allow the Council to monitor performance, in addition to this the contractor will undertake some self-monitoring which will also need report to the contract manager.

The contract is valued currently at just over £1.5M for the maximum four-year period assuming the two +1 extensions are taken up. The tender will be advertised in the winter of 26/27 and will be awarded once the tenders have been assessed using the following scores matrix 45% price : 45% quality : 10% Social value and will start in April 2027. The successful tenderer if not the current contractor should note that TUPE will apply to this contract and that payments are made on a monthly basis in accordance with a payment profile which will be included in the tender documentation.

The Council is interested in receiving feedback from suitably qualified contractors to better understand any factors that may influence participation in the tender process for this work.

If you have any questions that would help clarify the work required or the contract conditions or specification, please send them to [email protected]. Further information can also be found on the Proactis Portal:supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login ↗

Project Name: Weed Control Contract Reference:ERFX1008927

CPV: Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2031 (4 yrs)
Delivery: WalesEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Cardiff Council buys Agricultural, forestry, horticultural services (CPV 77), and who usually turns up

Cardiff Council’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: Agricultural, forestry, horticultural services (CPV 77) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCardiff Council · all categories
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Buyer: 23 of 35 known-size awards · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=36
66%83%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Wales (Cymru).

Buyer: 29 of 46 known-location awards · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=56
63%64%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i
Buyer: 16 decided notices · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=15
65 days41 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 65 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Buyer: at least 17 of 36 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=37
47%22%

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
This buyer24 lots with bid counts · all categories
13% had one bid
The market35 lots with bid counts · division 77 · Wales (Cymru)
26% had one bid
% of lots with a published bid count: this buyer (24) / the market (35) · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 26%
Buyer: 3 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
2–346% / 31%
Buyer: 11 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
4–638% / 31%
Buyer: 9 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
7+4% / 11%
Buyer: 1 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 35 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i
This buyer21 lots with estimate and award · all categories
48% below estimate
The market28 lots with estimate and award · division 77 · Wales (Cymru)
39% below estimate
% of lots with an estimate and award: this buyer (21) / the market (28) · select a colour for counts
Below estimate48% / 39%
Buyer: 10 of 21 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%24% / 14%
Buyer: 5 of 21 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate29% / 46%
Buyer: 6 of 21 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 7748 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.2m

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 77. The comparison uses that group.

Expected competition
i

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.

—No model forecast yet26% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 35 similar lots
1 bid26%
9 of 35 similar past lots received 1 bid (26%).
2–331%
11 of 35 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–631%
11 of 35 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+11%
4 of 35 similar past lots received 7+ (11%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.2m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

Coming up in this sector

Contracts ending within 12 months · Retender Radar, sector filter set

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
29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST
Last source update
29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST
Authority reference
ERFX1008927
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091882
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services
Delivery area
Wales (UKL)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077c79 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

29 Sept 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published46 days ago
    29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST
  2. Market engagement31 days ago
    14 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    Details regarding this notice can be found via: supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login ↗

    Project name: Weed Control Contract

    Reference: ERFX1008927

  3. Today
    15 Nov 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 47 days
    1 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 136 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    29 Sept 2026, 13:36 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

Cardiff Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PVHP-5769-YHRQ County Hall, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 4UWContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure