Official UK procurement notice
Kew Wakehurst Controlled Environment Facility
Authority: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is seeking to procure the design, supply and installation of environmental control chambers within a new controlled environment research facility at its Wakehurst site.
The facility will support plant science research through the precise and reproducible control of environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, lighting and, where required, CO2 concentrations. The requirement is expected to include environmental control chambers capable of supporting a range of plant growth and research activities, including seed regeneration, germination studies, pollination experiments and accelerated breeding programmes.
Prior to commencing the formal procurement process, RBG Kew is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) to refine its emerging requirements, understand market capability and potential delivery approaches, and inform the development of the final specification and procurement strategy.
Interested suppliers are strongly encouraged to participate in the PME exercise and complete the Preliminary Market Engagement questionnaire. Responses will be used solely to inform RBG Kew's approach to the subsequent procurement and will not form part of any future tender evaluation.
Following completion of the PME exercise, RBG Kew anticipates commencing a competitive procurement process. Further information regarding the final scope, procurement procedure and timetable will be published in due course.
To respond to this opportunity, please click here: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/RWD675SY4V ↗
If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing the above url, then please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk on call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com.
CPV: Installation services of laboratory equipment · Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew buys Installation services of laboratory equipment (CPV 5143), and who usually turns up
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’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 laboratory equipment (CPV 5143) →
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.
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 95 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 bid18% / 27%
2–318% / 47%
4–69% / 13%
7+55% / 13%
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 estimate50% / 63%
Within ±2%50% / 38%
Above estimate0% / 0%
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 5143Published estimate£600k
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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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid27%
2–347%
4–613%
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
- 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
- 27 Aug 2026, 10:15 BST
- Last source update
- 27 Aug 2026, 10:15 BST
- Authority reference
RBGKEW1591- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-081630- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ed45Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
27 Aug 2026 → 20 Dec 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published60 days ago27 Aug 2026, 10:15 BST
- Market engagement35 days ago21 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is undertaking a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to inform the development of a future procurement for environmental control chambers at its Wakehurst controlled environment research facility. The purpose of the engagement is to test and refine the emerging specification, understand market capability and innovation, identify potential delivery approaches, and inform the procurement strategy and commercial arrangements.
Interested suppliers are invited to access the opportunity through the Delta eSourcing portal, **download and review the Preliminary Market Engagement document and complete the associated questionnaire**. Completed questionnaires should be submitted in accordance with the instructions contained within the PME documentation **by 17:00 on 21 September 2026**.
Responses will be used to help RBG Kew develop its requirements and procurement approach and will not form part of any subsequent tender evaluation. Participation in the PME exercise is voluntary and suppliers will not be advantaged or disadvantaged by choosing whether or not to respond.
RBG Kew may also organise a supplier engagement event and site visit to provide interested suppliers with further information regarding the proposed building, research requirements and anticipated scope of supply. Suppliers wishing to attend should register their interest in accordance with the instructions contained within the PME documentation. Attendance at any engagement session will not form part of the evaluation of any future procurement process.
Following completion of the PME exercise, RBG Kew will review the feedback received and use the information gathered to finalise its requirements and determine the most appropriate procurement approach.
To access the PME documentation and respond to this opportunity, please use the Delta eSourcing portal at the link provided below.
To respond to this opportunity, please click here: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/RWD675SY4V ↗
If you experience any technical difficulties from accessing the above url, then please contact the Delta eSourcing Helpdesk on call 0800 923 9236 or email helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com.
- Tender notice expected24 days ago2 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 53 days20 Dec 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Aug 2026, 10:15 BSTUK2
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