Official UK procurement notice
Inspection, refurbishment, and re-panning of wheel pans used on London Underground Circle, District and Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan line fleets.
Authority: Docklands Light Railway Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionLondon Underground Limited is undertaking a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise in accordance with sections 16 and 17 of the Procurement Act 2023 to understand market capability for the inspection, refurbishment and re‑panning of S Stock wheel pans used across the Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan line fleets. This engagement is intended solely to inform internal planning and sourcing strategy and is not a tender, does not form part of any competitive procurement, and may not result in a future opportunity.
The authority is assessing the market's ability to refurbish and re‑pan safety‑critical wheel pan assemblies to OEM, TfL and London Underground specifications. The indicative scope may include inspection and condition assessment, removal and replacement of wheel pan material, dimensional checks and non‑destructive testing where required, application of corrosion protection suitable for underframe conditions and long‑term storage, and associated quality assurance, traceability, packaging and return logistics. Final specifications are subject to further development.
The authority is particularly interested in suppliers with experience refurbishing safety‑critical metal components (rail sector experience preferred), ISO 9001‑accredited quality management systems, robust inspection and traceability processes, and the capacity to support consistent batch throughput and turnaround. At this stage, the authority is seeking high‑level, non‑binding information only, including a brief summary of organisational capability and relevant experience, an outline of the proposed technical approach, indicative capacity and turnaround times, high‑level pricing ranges, and details of relevant certifications and accreditations.
Any information provided will be used solely to support market understanding and does not constitute pre‑qualification or supplier selection. Suppliers interested in participating are invited to submit the requested information by the stated response date. All responses will be handled in confidence and the authority will take appropriate steps to ensure that participation in this engagement does not provide any supplier with an unfair advantage in any potential future procurement.
CPV: Overhaul and refurbishment work · Repair and maintenance services of machinery · Repair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Docklands Light Railway Limited buys Other building completion work (CPV 4545), and who usually turns up
Docklands Light Railway Limited’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: Other building completion work (CPV 4545) →
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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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 Greater London.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in 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 126 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 bid17% / 22%
2–317% / 0%
4–650% / 22%
7+17% / 56%
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 estimate48% / 48%
Within ±2%32% / 22%
Above estimate20% / 30%
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 4545Estimate not published
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 18 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid22%
2–30%
4–622%
7+56%
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
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 20 May 2026, 15:21 BST
- Last source update
- 27 May 2026, 15:31 BST
- Authority reference
WS3101901798- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-049825- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069dc5Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
20 May 2026 → 8 Jul 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published162 days ago20 May 2026, 15:21 BST
- Latest notice published155 days ago27 May 2026, 15:31 BST
- Market engagement133 days ago17 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
The sourcing plan is to develop and publish a Tender package by 14.08.2026 after the
completion and review of responses from potential suppliers towards the Preliminary Market
Engagement published.
TfL also desires to complete the Tender process by 13.11.2026. Please note dates are indicative and subject to change.
- Contract starts113 days ago8 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 20 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published20 May 2026, 15:21 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 May 2026, 10:04 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 May 2026, 15:31 BSTUK2
Published amendments (2)
Timelines adjusted
Central line is not included as part of this scope
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
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- Transport for LondonProcess contact pointProcuring entityTransport for London is procuring on behalf of it's subsidiary London Underground Limited
Official documents & specifications (3)
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
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender