Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 18 Feb 2026, 14:03 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Cable Testing Equipment · UK public procurement notice

Authority: National Armament Director Group (Central government)

GoodsAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£1,666,667pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 11 Oct 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 14 Oct 2031 · starts 14 Oct 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a requirement to procure Cable Analysers, Light Source and Power Meters, and Copper multiservice testers/Plain Old Telephone testers (POTS).

CPV: Optical telecommunication cables · Optical-fibre cables for data transmission · Telecommunications cable

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrsSME

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

How National Armament Director Group buys Fibre-optic materials (CPV 3256), and who usually turns up

National Armament Director Group’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: Fibre-optic materials (CPV 3256) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNational Armament Director Group · division 32
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: 2 of 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 3256 · UK-wide, n=7
40%43%

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: no winner locations published · market: division 32 · UK-wide, n=338
—39%

No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in 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: division 32 · UK-wide, n=69
—41 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 41 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.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 6 of 6 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3256 · UK-wide, n=11
100%55%

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 buyer20 lots with bid counts · all categories
55% had one bid
The market110 lots with bid counts · division 32 · UK-wide
15% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid55% / 15%
Buyer: 11 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 17 of 110 lots with published bid counts.
2–330% / 41%
Buyer: 6 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 45 of 110 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 26%
Buyer: 2 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 29 of 110 lots with published bid counts.
7+5% / 17%
Buyer: 1 of 20 lots with published bid counts. Market: 19 of 110 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 buyer14 lots with estimate and award · all categories
43% below estimate
The market83 lots with estimate and award · division 32 · UK-wide
61% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate43% / 61%
Buyer: 6 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 51 of 83 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%36% / 29%
Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 24 of 83 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate21% / 10%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 83 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 3248 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.7m

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 32. The comparison uses that group.

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 110 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet15% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 110 similar lots
1 bid15%
17 of 110 similar past lots received 1 bid (15%).
2–341%
45 of 110 similar past lots received 2–3 (41%).
4–626%
29 of 110 similar past lots received 4–6 (26%).
7+17%
19 of 110 similar past lots received 7+ (17%).
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 £1.7m, 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
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
18 Feb 2026, 14:03 GMT
Last source update
23 Mar 2026, 15:50 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-026403
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Optical telecommunication cablesOptical-fibre cables for data transmissionTelecommunications cable
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065720 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

18 Feb 2026 → 14 Oct 2027 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published250 days ago
    18 Feb 2026, 14:03 GMT
  2. Latest notice published217 days ago
    23 Mar 2026, 15:50 GMT
  3. Market engagement206 days ago
    3 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    Respondents should provide information in accordance with the format provided in Annex A in PDF, quoting the RFI reference on all documentation. Please provide your response via the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) or via the folllowing email address; DES-Deca-MST-Procurement@mod.gov.uk. The Authority may decide to contact you directly to clarify any points raised in your response. If you consider any further information is required to ensure you are able to bid in future, we invite you to submit comments within the response.

    Please note the deadline has been extended: all RFI submissions must be provided to the Authority :by 12:00 GMT on 3rd of April 2026.

    Please find link to Opportuntity Listing where you will find a copy of the RFI for your submission.

    contracts.mod.uk/esop/toolkit/opportu… ↗

    Please contact the Authority at your earliest opportunity should you encounter challenges with your submission.

    This RFI is not a bidding opportunity, it is a means by which industry can provide information and does not constitute a commitment of an imminent procurement. All costs pertaining to the completion of this response are to be borne by the responders.

    Please note, procurement dates and values in this notice are subject to governance and should not be viewed as a firm commitment.

  4. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  5. Tender notice expectedin 349 days
    11 Oct 2027, 23:59 BST
  6. Contract startsin 351 days
    14 Oct 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 Feb 2026
  1. Pipeline notice published
    18 Feb 2026, 14:03 GMT
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 Feb 2026, 14:22 GMT
    UK2
  3. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    23 Mar 2026, 15:50 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

DE&S Deca

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PVRL-5831-GLMM Welsh Road, Deeside, Wales, CH5 2LSContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure