Official UK procurement notice
HCC March 26 - Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for Forklift Trucks
Authority: Hertfordshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionHerts FullStop (HFS) are a part of Hertfordshire County Council that provides Goods and Services primarily to educational establishments and other non‑profit organisations across the UK.
HFS is looking to procure two Forklift Trucks (herein after referred to as “Goods”) and is seeking a suitably qualified Contractor to supply the Goods and any related Services under any Agreement resulting from any future tendering exercise. These forklifts will be used to move Goods in the Herts Fullstop warehouse.
As part of the above, HFS is looking for services in relation to placement of sensors placed inside the HFS warehouse situated at Mundell’s Welwyn Garden City, as part of a guidance system and “fencing” for the 2 new forklifts.
HFS is also looking for services relating to the disposal of 3 existing forklift trucks.
Finally, HFS are also looking for ongoing Maintenance & Servicing for the 2 new forklifts. Further details
can be found in the PME document.
The Council is carrying out PME in relation to this project. The Council will consider the feedback received to help inform the Council’s options, requirements and further decision making. For the avoidance of doubt, this stage of the project is not part of a formal procurement process and the Council is not committing, at this stage, to carrying out such a process.
Participation or non-participation in the PME shall not prevent any supplier participating in a potential future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of the PME shall place any supplier at an advantage in a potential procurement process.
For further information, please see the PME Document and Questionnaire.
CPV: Forklift trucks · Industrial machinery · Lifting and handling equipment · Works trucks · Works trucks fitted with handling equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Hertfordshire County Council buys Lifting and handling equipment (CPV 4241), and who usually turns up
Hertfordshire 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: Lifting and handling equipment (CPV 4241) →
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 60 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 bid19% / 33%
2–310% / 33%
4–634% / 17%
7+37% / 17%
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 estimate11% / 60%
Within ±2%89% / 0%
Above estimate0% / 40%
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 4241Published estimate£750k
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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid20%
2–340%
4–627%
7+13%
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.
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.
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
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 5 Mar 2026, 11:31 GMT
- Last source update
- 5 Mar 2026, 11:31 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-019832- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0662dcFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
5 Mar 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published237 days ago5 Mar 2026, 11:31 GMT
- Market engagement226 days ago16 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
To access the PME documentation please visit the Council’s e-tendering system Supply Hertfordshire, run by In-Tend at in-tendhost.co.uk/supplyhertfordshire ↗ and follow the on-screen guidance.
To participate in this PME, organisations must return their completed Supplier Questionnaire (Appendix A of the PME Document), together with any supporting documents, through the Correspondence area of the project on Supply Hertfordshire by the return deadline of 12.00 Noon on Monday 16th March 2026, as per the PME documentation and e-tendering system. Supplier Questionnaires received after the deadline may not be reviewed at the Council’s sole discretion.
The Council has given the option for organisations to attend an in person walk round of the Mundell’s site will begin week commencing Monday 23rd March; this will take place at Herts Fullstop, Mundell’s, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1FT. Please note that attendance requests for the Mundell’s site walk (which should be no more than 2 representatives from each organisation) must be received by 12 Noon on Monday 16th March 2026.
Please make sure that you have submitted your Supplier Questionnaire following the instructions within the PME documentation and e-tendering system. The Council will not be held accountable for any errors made by an organisation in submitting their Supplier Questionnaire.
If you are experiencing problems with the Supply Hertfordshire website, In-Tend offer a help section which includes a dedicated UK support desk which can be contacted via email: support@in-tend.co.uk or Telephone: +44 1144070065 for any website/technical questions, Monday to Friday, 8:30-17:00.
Participation in the PME will be at each organisation’s own cost. No expense in responding to this PME will be reimbursed by the Council.
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 63 days1 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 Mar 2026, 11:31 GMTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender