Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 27 Oct 2026, 10:16 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Business Travel PME · UK public procurement notice

Authority: University of Portsmouth Higher Education Corporation (Education)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£9,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 28 Feb 2032 · up to 28 Feb 2034 with extensions · starts 1 Mar 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The University of Portsmouth is seeking early market feedback from suitably qualified and experienced Suppliers on its proposal to re-tender it’s Business Travel Services requirement.

The University requires a Travel Management Company (TMC) that can facilitate the travel booking needs for a large and diverse range of stakeholders, including but not limited to Air Travel, Rail Travel and Accommodation Booking, for Domestic and International travel requirements.

The University requires a TMC with the provision to provide these services both online through a booking platform and smartphone-based app, and offline through a UK based call-centre type model.

The University has used the services of a TMC since 2018. As the current TMC contract is ending in 2027, the University is now seeking to re-contract for this service for up to a further 6 years.

CPV: Business travel services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 4 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Mar 2028 – 28 Feb 2032 (4 yrs) · up to 28 Feb 2034 with extensions
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How University of Portsmouth Higher Education Corporation buys Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999), and who usually turns up

University of Portsmouth Higher Education Corporation’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: Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bidWhat 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: 3 of 7 known-size awards · market: CPV 7999 · UK-wide, n=321
43%44%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 7 known-location awards · market: CPV 7999 · UK-wide, n=184
14%53%

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: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7999 · UK-wide, n=59
—67 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 67 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 3 of 8 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7999 · UK-wide, n=445
38%53%

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 buyer9 lots with bid counts · all categories
44% had one bid
The market138 lots with bid counts · CPV 7999 · UK-wide
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid44% / 14%
Buyer: 4 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 20 of 138 lots with published bid counts.
2–311% / 26%
Buyer: 1 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 36 of 138 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 29%
Buyer: 3 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 40 of 138 lots with published bid counts.
7+11% / 30%
Buyer: 1 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 42 of 138 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 buyer6 lots with estimate and award · all categories
17% below estimate
The market84 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7999 · UK-wide
43% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate17% / 43%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 36 of 84 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%50% / 35%
Buyer: 3 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 29 of 84 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate33% / 23%
Buyer: 2 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 84 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 #1CPV 799948 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£9.0m
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 138 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 138 similar lots
1 bid14%
20 of 138 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–326%
36 of 138 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–629%
40 of 138 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+30%
42 of 138 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £9.0m, 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
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
27 Oct 2026, 10:16 GMT
Last source update
27 Oct 2026, 10:16 GMT
Authority reference
25-574 PME
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-101370
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Business travel services
Delivery area
North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)East of England (UKH)London (UKI)South East (UKJ)
+1 moreSouth West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0790d5 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

27 Oct 2026 → 1 Mar 2028 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published20h ago
    27 Oct 2026, 10:16 GMT
  2. Today
    28 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 64 days
    31 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Link to the University of Portsmouth supplier portal is:

    supplier.in-tend.co.uk/port/home ↗

    Where you will be able to view the opportunity and download the PME document which outlines the process and timelines.

  4. Contract starts
    1 Mar 2028

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    27 Oct 2026, 10:16 GMT
    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

University of Portsmouth Higher Education Corporation

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PWYV-2655-NPMQ Mercantile House, Portsmouth, South East, PO1 2EGContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure