Find a TenderOpen for tender Tender notice
Published 8 Oct 2026, 13:39 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Fire Safety Systems - Service & Maintenance

Authority: Ipswich Borough Council (Local council)

ServicesOpen procedureAbove threshold
Published estimate£180,000≈ £90k / year · £216,000 inc. VAT
Submission deadline 5 Nov 202611:00 GMT · 8 days left
Clarification cut-off 22 Oct 202614:00 BST · questions to the authority
Contract term 2 yrsends 30 Nov 2028 · up to 30 Nov 2030 with extensions · starts 1 Dec 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Servicing and maintenance of Fire Safety Equipment for Ipswich Borough Council housing stock.

CPV: Fire-prevention installation works · Installation services of fire protection equipment · Repair and maintenance services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1Renewal 2 yrsPublished value£180,000
Contract period: 1 Dec 2026 – 30 Nov 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 30 Nov 2030 with extensionsValue: £180,000 exc. VAT · £216,000 inc. VAT
Delivery: East of EnglandTurnover guideline: ~£179,754/yr≈ 2× annual value
Extensions: 2 X 12 Month

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
How bids are scored
Quality: 40%Price: 60%
Published sub-criteria (2)
  • Fire Safety Service & Maintenance: 40%
  • Fire Safety Service & Maintenance: 60%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Fire Safety Service & Maintenance
  • Fire Safety Service & Maintenance

No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.

What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 60 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 6 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
  • Turnover usually expected at this size: about £179,754 (twice the annual value).

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How Ipswich Borough Council buys Installation services of fire protection equipment (CPV 5170), and who usually turns up

Ipswich Borough Council’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: Installation services of fire protection equipment (CPV 5170) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerIpswich Borough Council · 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: 20 of 32 known-size awards · market: CPV 5170 · UK-wide, n=23
63%52%

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: 23 of 50 known-location awards · market: CPV 5170 · UK-wide, n=19
46%74%

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: 10 decided notices · market: CPV 5170 · UK-wide, n=5
34 days98 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 34 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 1 of 51 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 5170 · UK-wide, n=24
2%38%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

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 buyer14 lots with bid counts · all categories
7% had one bid
The market13 lots with bid counts · CPV 5170 · UK-wide
8% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid7% / 8%
Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 13 lots with published bid counts.
2–314% / 31%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 13 lots with published bid counts.
4–636% / 31%
Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 13 lots with published bid counts.
7+43% / 31%
Buyer: 6 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 13 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 buyer34 lots with estimate and award · all categories
59% below estimate
The market5 lots with estimate and award · CPV 5170 · UK-wide
20% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate59% / 20%
Buyer: 20 of 34 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%29% / 60%
Buyer: 10 of 34 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate12% / 20%
Buyer: 4 of 34 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 5 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 453424 monthsPublished estimate£180k

This lot is listed as CPV 4534. The table above uses the notice category.

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.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

4expected bids11% chance of a single bid
similar past contests in this category: 9
Forecast chances for this lot
1 bid11%
Chance this lot gets 1 bid: 11%. This is a forecast.
2–334%
Chance this lot gets 2–3: 34%. This is a forecast.
4–630%
Chance this lot gets 4–6: 30%. This is a forecast.
7+25%
Chance this lot gets 7+: 25%. This is a forecast.
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.

Based on 4 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

£162k10% below estimate
4 comparable awards
Forecast compared with the buyer’s estimate
Middle 50%£134k–£180k
Half of likely prices fall between £134,197 and £180,000.
Estimate£180k
The buyer published an estimate of £180,000 for this lot.
A 19% chance the award lands exactly on the estimate.

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.

SupplierWon in this categoryLive contractsAward vs estimate
1 panel places
£12m39 awards in 36m · last 1 month ago5 live · £6.6m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

at estimate n=5
4 panel places
£300k5 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago1 live
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

no comparable pairs
1 win in East of England1 panel places
£660k4 awards in 36m · last 2 months agoNone on fileno comparable pairs
1 panel places
£313k3 awards in 36m · last 6 months ago2 live · £288k
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

33% above n=1
3 panel places
£1.1m12 awards in 36m · last 1 month agoNone on file33% above n=2
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
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
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
8 Oct 2026, 13:39 BST
Last source update
8 Oct 2026, 13:39 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 1 Dec 2026
Authority reference
IBC/21218
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-095204
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Fire-prevention installation worksInstallation services of fire protection equipmentRepair and maintenance services
Delivery area
East of England (UKH14)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0783c1 Find a Tender

How to participate & submission route

Official notice
Requests to participate (first stage)
—
Tender submission deadline
5 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT
Clarification deadline
22 Oct 2026, 14:00 BST
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
Published estimate £180,000 excludes VAT (£216,000 including VAT).

Timeline

8 Oct 2026 → 1 Dec 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Tender notice published19 days ago
    8 Oct 2026, 13:39 BST
  2. Clarification questions by5 days ago
    22 Oct 2026, 14:00 BST
  3. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  4. Submission deadlinein 8 days
    5 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 34 days
    1 Dec 2026
  6. Award decision expected byin 35 days
    1 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Tender notice published
    8 Oct 2026, 13:39 BST
    UK4

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Nothing awarded yet
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Ipswich Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic undertaking GB-PPON: PPLT-7247-DMBJ Grafton House, 15-17 Russell Road, Ipswich, East of England, IP1 2DEContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Bidding documents and specificationstenderBidding documents and specifications

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender