Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 2 Oct 2026, 16:10 BST

Official UK procurement notice

715962484 - Personal Load Carriage Equipment (PLCE) - UK1 - Pipeline Notice

Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)

Framework agreementGoodsCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdDefence & securityUtilitiesSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£30,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 28 May 2027from the planned procurement notice
Framework period 7 yrs 11 moends 2 May 2035 · starts 11 Jun 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Authority intends to establish a framework for the provision of Personal Load Carriage Equipment (PLCE), including a range of textile-based equipment and accessories such as pouches, rucksacks, fasteners and associated components. The estimated value of the framework is £37 million over an eight-year term. The framework will provide for the supply and ongoing support of these items throughout the contract period.

CPV: Pouches · Rucksacks · Textile fabrics and related items

How this framework works

From the published notice
Framework period
7 yrs 11 mo from 11 Jun 2027

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 7 yrs 11 moSME
Contract period: 11 Jun 2027 – 2 May 2035 (7 yrs 11 mo)
Eligibility: SME eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
What this means for your bid
  • “715962484 - Personal Load Carriage Equipment (PLCE) - UK1 - Pipeline…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

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

How Ministry of Defence buys Pouches (CPV 1892), and who usually turns up

Ministry of Defence’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Pouches (CPV 1892) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerMinistry of Defence · 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: 53 of 127 known-size awards · market: division 18 · South East England (authority’s region), n=5
42%20%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South East England (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 of 34 known-location awards · market: division 18 · South East England (authority’s region), n=5
29%0%

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

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 13 decided notices · market: division 18 · South East England (authority’s region), n=11
122 days226 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 122 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 44 of 111 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 18 · UK-wide, n=24
40%13%

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 buyer76 lots with bid counts · all categories
30% had one bid
The market14 lots with bid counts · division 18 · South East England (authority’s region)
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid30% / 0%
Buyer: 23 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 14 lots with published bid counts.
2–343% / 36%
Buyer: 33 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts.
4–613% / 29%
Buyer: 10 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 14 lots with published bid counts.
7+13% / 36%
Buyer: 10 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 14 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.

On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.

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 189295 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£30m
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 14 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet0% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 14 similar lots
1 bid0%
0 of 14 similar past lots received 1 bid (0%).
2–336%
5 of 14 similar past lots received 2–3 (36%).
4–629%
4 of 14 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+36%
5 of 14 similar past lots received 7+ (36%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

—Priced at call-off
On a framework or DPS the price is agreed on each call-off, so there is no award price to forecast here: the published figure is a ceiling.

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
Procedure method
Competitive flexible procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Defence & securityUtilities
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
2 Oct 2026, 16:10 BST
Last source update
2 Oct 2026, 16:22 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093522
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
PouchesRucksacksTextile fabrics and related items
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078013 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Appointment period ends
—

Timeline

2 Oct 2026 → 11 Jun 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published26 days ago
    2 Oct 2026, 16:10 BST
  2. Today
    29 Oct 2026
  3. Tender notice expectedin 211 days
    28 May 2027, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract startsin 224 days
    11 Jun 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 2 Oct 2026
  1. Pipeline notice published
    2 Oct 2026, 16:10 BST
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Oct 2026, 16:22 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

Ministry of Defence

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PHVX-4316-ZVGZ Abbey Wood, Bristol, South West, BS34 8JHContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure