Official UK procurement notice
Western Range Planning Communications Consultant
Authority: British Museum (Central government)·On behalf of: GARDINER & THEOBALD LLP
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe British Museum brings together the history of humankind, all cultures of the world spanning millennia. It connects us to our past and to each other. It is a place where everyone is welcome, where many voices meet to understand, and to question what brings us together and what separates us. It is a place of exploration and a place of inspiration. The collection that the Museum holds in trust for the world is of unparalleled breadth, depth, beauty and significance. A truly global resource, free and available to everyone. The Museum's role is to enhance and make accessible the collection through research, through interpretation, through display, through lending, and to share what it learns, as well as the process of learning, with others. With this matchless position comes a responsibility to ensure that this work can continue, ensuring the collection is cared for and accessible for generations to come, and that the Museum remains a centre of excellence and is continually relevant into the 21st century.
The physical manifestation of the British Museum in Bloomsbury is iconic. It comprises almost an entire city block in one of the most intricate and established parts of central London. It is a treasured national icon within a conservation area that is, in itself, emblematic of the Capital. The Museum has an internal floor area of over 100,000m2, within a footprint that is packed with a diversity of buildings; the estate is Grade I listed, with perimeter properties that are listed Grade II.
Read the full description (4,058 more characters)
Each part of the Museum contains, iconic, often sizeable and irreplaceable items from the collection, and each is visited by many thousands of people, every day. Space on the site is both limited and precious, especially in terms of gallery spaces. The original quadrangle was designed for 100,000 visitors per annum, a figure that was already far exceeded in the 1850s. As it stands, annual visitor numbers to the Museum now regularly exceed six million. Today, there are heightened security requirements and a fundamental need to ensure inclusivity and access, as well as enabling intuitive wayfinding, addressing dilapidations, and creating an environment where people can connect with the collection, and by doing so, with each other.
The Western Range Programme focuses on a substantial part of the estate that is in urgent need of both repair and re-imagining. This offers the Museum an opportunity to make a statement of its future intent, through reimagined galleries, new state-of-the-art storage facilities and engaging contemporary architecture, in juxtaposition to the highly significant and already celebrated listed buildings on the site. A multi-disciplinary design team led by Lina Ghotmeh Architecture has been selected to deliver the Western Range programme which is currently at the end of RIBA Stage 2 in the design process.
Despite appearing as a single entity, the Western Range comprises a miscellany of 10 separate buildings which have been added to Robert Smirke's original Grade I listed Museum; as a result, the exact extent of the red-line boundary and phasing for this project is dependent on a number of interlocking considerations. The proposed project outline can be seen in the attached documentation. In the region of 15,000m2, it accounts for almost 15% of the floor space within the Bloomsbury site, in a warren of inflexible and static rooms. Further, recent surveys indicate that the existing building fabric and infrastructure are in a state that is below modern expectations. It comprises around 7,500m2 of gallery space and currently houses the Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece (including the Parthenon Sculptures), Rome, and Ancient Assyria and Middle East collections, along with 4,500m2 of back-of-house collection storage.
The delivery of the Western Range redevelopment will take place within a complex and highly sensitive operational environment, requiring construction works to be carefully planned and coordinated alongside the ongoing activities of the British Museum. As a live cultural institution, the Museum must continue to provide safe and effective access for visitors and staff, while ensuring the protection, movement, and management of its collections throughout the construction period.
The project presents a number of unique challenges, including working within a heritage setting, constrained site conditions, restricted access, neighbouring property interfaces, complex logistics requirements, and the need to coordinate multiple stakeholder requirements. A Planning Communications Consultant is therefore required to provide specialist, project-specific expertise to develop and deliver coordinated communications services in relation to Town and Country Planning matters for the Western Range programme throughout the pre-application, planning submission, determination and, if instructed, post determination processes. Full details of the scope of services required are contained in the associated tender documents.
Due to the confidential/commercially sensitive nature of information that will be included in the associated tender documents we require that interested suppliers enter into a confidentiality agreement before they are given access to the tender pack.
A copy of the confidentiality agreement is available by request via email to [email protected]. The terms of the confidentiality agreement are not subject to negotiation.
As soon as practical after the receipt of completed confidentiality agreements, interested suppliers will be granted access to the tender documents.
CPV: Public relations consultancy services · Urban planning services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1Published value£250,000
- Value
- £250,000 exc. VAT · £300,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- The initial term of the contract will cover pre-application, planning submission and determination related activities. The progression into post-determination activities, including discharge of planning conditions, will be subject to an option to extend.
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).
Published award criteria (2)
- Quality — The question breakdown is available in the Invitation to Tender included within the procurement documents.
- Price — The question breakdown is available in the Invitation to Tender included within the procurement documents.
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How British Museum buys Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) — and who usually turns up
British Museum’s own published record, next to the Greater London market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) →
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.
British Museum
contract notices in 36 months: 1 in CPV 7941 · 1 in division 79 · 10 in all categories (2 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 all categories, last 36 months: 4 lots. All 4 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices, which count bids assessed.
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 all categories, last 36 months: 4 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.
Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no comparable estimate → award 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: 4 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: 12 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 all categories, last 36 months: 8 notices.
Greater London · Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941)
contract notices delivered in Greater London in 36 months: 193 in CPV 7941 (142 competed, 17 route not published) · 953 in division 79 (632 competed, 163 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 region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7941), last 36 months: 82 lots. 41 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 4) and 41 from older notices (bids received, middle 5).
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 sector (CPV 7941), last 36 months: 82 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 sector (CPV 7941), last 36 months: 53 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 sector (CPV 7941), last 36 months: 33 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 sector (CPV 7941), last 36 months: 53 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 sector (CPV 7941), last 36 months: 122 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 the Greater London market’s usual movement over 53 lots (CPV 7941), applied to the £250,000 estimate on this notice. The range comes from the region’s middle half.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Who you are likely to meet i
Who you may be up against.
Suppliers on this buyer’s earlier similar contracts, and suppliers whose record fits this tender.
A guess from the record. Buyers do not publish who is bidding.
i
Who you may be up against.
Suppliers on this buyer’s earlier similar contracts, and suppliers whose record fits this tender.
A guess from the record. Buyers do not publish who is bidding.
Suppliers on this authority’s earlier similar contracts, then suppliers with a matching track record — from published award history, not a bid list
Suppliers with a similar track record — and how they price i
Suppliers with a similar track record, and how they price.
Suppliers matched on wins in this category, history with this buyer, location and size. Their award vs estimate is from their own past wins.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
i
Suppliers with a similar track record, and how they price.
Suppliers matched on wins in this category, history with this buyer, location and size. Their award vs estimate is from their own past wins.
A guess from the record, not a bidder list.
| Supplier | Evidence | Last award | Their award vs estimate | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B2E CONSULTING SOLUTIONS LIMITED SME | 21 class wins | 2 months ago | no comparable pairs | 61% |
| Malverde Limited SME | 22 class wins | 1 months ago | no comparable pairs | 61% |
| OAKLIN LIMITED SME | 25 class wins | 2 months ago | 9% below n=1 | 59% |
| NEWMARK GERALD EVE LLP (OC339470) | 3 class wins · 1 lots for this buyer | 1 months ago | 15% above n=2 | 59% |
| Plenitude Consulting Limited SME | 21 class wins | 4 months ago | no comparable pairs | 59% |
Matched by the nightly worker on class wins, buyer history, delivery geography, scale and notice text; relevance is a 0–100% heuristic score, not a probability of bidding. “Their award vs estimate” is that supplier’s median on its own comparable single-supplier wins, CPV 7941 first. Nobody here is known to be bidding.
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
- Services
- 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
- Yes (GPA, CPTPP)
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 22 Sept 2026, 16:05 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Sept 2026, 16:05 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 9 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Authority reference
BM.26.062- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0777e2Find a Tender
- Risks
Delays during review, determination or rejection, by the relevant statutory or approving bodies of the Planning Applications, and/or any subsequently amended and resubmitted Planning Applications or amendments to the route to determination are known risks, the impact of which cannot be determined until they more…
materialise, that potentially jeopardise performance of the contract. The relevant statutory bodies' decision making process and eventual method by which the Planning Applications will be determined is beyond the control of the Authority or the Supplier. A modification resulting from the materialisation of these risks would extend the contract to cover any delay and, if required, allow for completion and submission of revised Planning Applications inclusive of the determination route/process. The Authority considers that awarding a new contract in order to cover any delay or, if required, completion and submission of revised Planning Applications or amended determination route would not be in the public interest as the time and financial impact of conducting a new procurement and onboarding a potential new Supplier coupled with potential loss of accumulated knowledge would not represent value for money.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via Delta eSourcing- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 23 Oct 2026, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 15 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The procurement process will be managed through the Delta eSourcing portal (https://www.delta-esourcing.com/). If you have difficulty registering on the portal we recommend that you contact the Delta helpdesk directly on 44(0)800 923 9236 or email [email protected]. Participants must also be registered as suppliers on the Find a Tender system in order to participate. You must have submitted a complete supplier information set and ensure that it is up to date at more…
the point of tender submission. Details on how to register on and use the system can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/information-and-guidance-for-suppliersTimeline
5 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice published1 day ago22 Sept 2026, 16:05 BST
- Clarification questions byin 22 days15 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 30 days23 Oct 2026, 15:00 BST
- Award decision expected byin 47 days9 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 56 days19 Nov 2026, 00:00 GMT
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 published22 Sept 2026, 16:05 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- GARDINER & THEOBALD LLPProcuring entityGardiner & Theobald LLP provide Project Management services for the Western Range Programme and have been involved in the preparation of the procurement related documents. They will be involved in the management of this procurement process which may include evaluation of some, or all, elements of tenders submitted.
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender