Official UK procurement notice
Food Waste Receipt and Treatment
Authority: Suffolk County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSuffolk County Council is looking to appoint up to three Contractors to receive and process Suffolk's Food Waste.
The contract(s) will be directly between the successful Contractor(s) and Suffolk County Council, who are acting on behalf of Suffolk's District and Borough Councils. (Babergh District Council, East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Mid Suffolk District Council and West Suffolk Council)
We anticipate that the Contract will be let in 3 geographical lots, these being based in the East (Ipswich), North (Lowestoft), and West (Bury St Edmunds) of the county. Based on actual collections since June 2026, we expect approximately 25,000-28,000 tonnes of food waste in total to be collected each year across the County. Whilst this tonnage is not guaranteed, the successful contractor(s) will be offered exclusivity of the tonnage within each lot. We are issuing this notice to inform the market of our intentions and invite all prospective service providers to participate in the pre-market engagement exercise to enable us to shape a suitable contract and procurement process.
The waste is expected to be delivered directly to the processing sites. The Authority is interested in solutions which minimise the overall cost and environmental impact of the service. Consequently, the future procurement will consider the transport distance between collection areas and treatment facilities, together with associated haulage impacts and treatment costs, as part of the evaluation methodology.
Processing should create Biogas and Digestate to PAS110 standards.
Average monthly tonnages expected (but not guaranteed) are as follows:
Lot 1 East - Ipswich 933 tonnes
Lot 2 North - Lowestoft 367 tonnes.
Lot 3 West - Bury St Edmunds 994 tonnes
Estimated total value (Ex. VAT):
Lot 1 East - Ipswich £1,791,360
Lot 2 North - Lowestoft £704,640
Lot 3 West - Bury St Edmunds £1,908,480
Total: £4,404,480
We intend to publish the tender notice for this opportunity in Qtr. 4 of 2026/27.
CPV: Refuse recycling services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Suffolk County Council buys Refuse disposal and treatment (CPV 9051), and who usually turns up
Suffolk County 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: Refuse disposal and treatment (CPV 9051) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 East of England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 45 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid6% / 48%
2–326% / 26%
4–639% / 17%
7+29% / 9%
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.
Below estimate23% / 43%
Within ±2%68% / 43%
Above estimate9% / 14%
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.
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 9051Published estimate£4.4m
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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 23 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid48%
2–326%
4–617%
7+9%
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.
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.
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biogen UK LimitedLive contract | Food Waste Receipt and Treatmentruns to Sept 2028 | — | £1.1m | Matched as the earlier contract |
| LOCAL GENERATION LIMITEDLive contract | Food Waste Receipt and Treatmentruns to Sept 2028 | — | £400k | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (100% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Food Waste Receipt and Treatment — held by Biogen UK Limited and LOCAL GENERATION LIMITED; the published contract ends 30 Sept 2028.
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
- 9 Oct 2026, 11:15 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Oct 2026, 13:18 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097952- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07847bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
9 Oct 2026 → 1 Oct 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published19 days ago9 Oct 2026, 11:15 BST
- Latest notice published12 days ago16 Oct 2026, 13:18 BST
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 9 days6 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Suffolk County Council is seeking to engage with the market to inform the future procurement of food waste treatment.
We are keen to hear from existing and emerging providers and organisations with relevant expertise to better understand current market capabilities, opportunities for innovation, and future developments within the sector.
The Council is committed to delivering a resilient, efficient, and environmentally sustainable food waste service that supports statutory requirements while maximising value for residents and taxpayers.
Through this engagement, we aim to gain insight into processing technologies, operational approaches, capacity availability, decarbonisation opportunities, contractual models, and potential efficiencies that may help shape the future service specification.
We welcome constructive challenge and innovative solutions from the market.
Input from interested providers will help gauge market interest to inform our ongoing procurement process and ensure the future tender reflects current market conditions and encourages broad participation from capable suppliers.
Please complete the Market Engagement Questionnaire on this link:
forms.cloud.microsoft/e/pvCuk4bp45 ↗
Please complete the questionnaire by the 6/11/2026.
The contract term is indicative only. We intend to use the pre-market engagement exercise to determine a suitable initial contract term and any optional extension period. The actual contract dates may therefore differ from those stated in this notice.
- Contract starts1 Oct 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 9 Oct 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published9 Oct 2026, 11:15 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 Oct 2026, 13:18 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
There is no change to the wording or value of the notice, the notice has been edited to allow for a correction in the formatting of the market engagement questionnaire linked in the notice.
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
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender