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Published 2 Apr 2026, 15:41 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Weed Killing Technology · UK public procurement notice

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: London Underground Limited (Public body)

GoodsBelow thresholdUtilitiesSME suitable
Sectors: Agricultural machinery (16) Delivery: London (UKI)
Planned pipeline value£100,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 25 Oct 2027 · up to 25 Oct 2028 with extensions · starts 26 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Transport for London (Asset Performance and Delivery team - Track) is looking into the possibility of changing the weed-killing approach by utilising technology, secured to a wagon, which identifies where there is a weed and only sprays weedkiller on weeds, resulting in reduced use of glyphosate weedkiller.

Suppliers, who can offer this type of technology of alternative type, which could achieve the same or similar outcome, are invited to participate in market engagement.

CPV: Spraying machinery for agriculture or horticulture

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 1 yrSME
Contract period: 26 Oct 2026 – 25 Oct 2027 (1 yr) · up to 25 Oct 2028 with extensions
Delivery: LondonEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
16400000 Spraying machinery for agriculture or horticulture

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Transport for London buys Spraying machinery for agriculture or horticulture (CPV 1640), and who usually turns up

Transport for London’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: Spraying machinery for agriculture or horticulture (CPV 1640) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerTransport for London · all categories
The marketSpraying machinery for agriculture or horticulture (CPV 1640)
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: 26 of 227 known-size awards · market: division 16 · UK-wide, n=99
11%74%

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 Greater London.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 213 of 283 known-location awards · market: division 16 · Greater London, n=6
75%0%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

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: 25 decided notices · market: division 16 · UK-wide, n=13
94 days44 days

Half of these awards were announced within 94 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 184 of 317 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 16 · Greater London, n=6
58%50%

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 buyer181 lots with bid counts · all categories
45% had one bid
The market40 lots with bid counts · division 16 · UK-wide
13% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid45% / 13%
Buyer: 81 of 181 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 40 lots with published bid counts.
2–346% / 45%
Buyer: 83 of 181 lots with published bid counts. Market: 18 of 40 lots with published bid counts.
4–68% / 38%
Buyer: 14 of 181 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 40 lots with published bid counts.
7+2% / 5%
Buyer: 3 of 181 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 40 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 buyer25 lots with estimate and award · all categories
48% below estimate
The market42 lots with estimate and award · division 16 · UK-wide
55% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate48% / 55%
Buyer: 12 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 23 of 42 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%32% / 24%
Buyer: 8 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 42 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 21%
Buyer: 5 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 42 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 #112 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£100k
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 40 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 40 similar lots
1 bid13%
5 of 40 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–345%
18 of 40 similar past lots received 2–3 (45%).
4–638%
15 of 40 similar past lots received 4–6 (38%).
7+5%
2 of 40 similar past lots received 7+ (5%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £100k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Utilities
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
2 Apr 2026, 15:41 BST
Last source update
2 Apr 2026, 15:41 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-031064
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Spraying machinery for agriculture or horticulture
Delivery area
London (UKI)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067c2a Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

2 Apr 2026 → 26 Oct 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published201 days ago
    2 Apr 2026, 15:41 BST
  2. Market engagement188 days ago
    15 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    TfL may undertake the following engagement activities:

    • Supplier briefing session
    • Structured questionnaire issued to suppliers
    • Optional one-to-one supplier engagement meetings
    • Written clarification questions and responses

    Suppliers interested in participating in the engagement should register their interest by emailing [email protected] the following information:

    1. Company name and company registered number
    2. Contact name and email address

    Further information, briefing documents and engagement invitations will be provided to registered suppliers.

    Estimated period over which the market engagement is expected to take place is 15/04/2026 to 15/05/2026.

    Participation in this engagement is voluntary and will not confer any advantage in any future procurement process.

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 5 days
    26 Oct 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Apr 2026, 15:41 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

Transport for London

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PHMT-6197-NWNZ 5 Endeavour Square, London, London, E20 1JNContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure