Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Mar 2026, 11:02 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Plant and Agriculture Machinery – Service, Maintenance and Repair

Authority: NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED (Central government)

ServicesUtilitiesSME suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 30 Sept 2029 · up to 30 Sept 2033 with extensions · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Contract is for the maintenance, scheduled service and inspection, scheduled repair, unscheduled repair and safety inspection of NI Water's Plant and agricultural machinery. The Client will be responsible for scheduling of services and repairs in consultation and liaison with the Contractor. The scope of the service, maintenance and repairs will include all works necessary to ensure the Client’s plant and machinery is maintained so that it remains safe to use, and that the maintenance operation is carried out safely.

CPV: Agricultural services · Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services · Fleet management, repair and maintenance services · Machinery-inspection services · Maintenance and repair services related to specific parts of vehicles · Miscellaneous repair and maintenance services · Repair and maintenance services for pumps, valves, taps and metal containers and machinery · Repair and maintenance services of motor vehicles and associated equipment · Repair, maintenance and associated services of vehicles and related equipment · Technical inspection and testing services · Technical inspection services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED buys Repair and maintenance services of motor vehicles and associated equipment (CPV 5011), and who usually turns up

NORTHERN IRELAND WATER 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: Repair and maintenance services of motor vehicles and associated equipment (CPV 5011) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

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: 4 of 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 5011 · UK-wide, n=119
80%58%

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. The market figure counts awards delivered in Northern Ireland (authority’s region).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 7 of 7 known-location awards · market: CPV 5011 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=5
100%100%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in 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: 5 decided notices · market: CPV 5011 · UK-wide, n=44
107 days50 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 107 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 6 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 5011 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=6
17%33%

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 buyer6 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 50
17% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 5011 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region)
20% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid17% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–350% / 60%
Buyer: 3 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 20%
Buyer: 2 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 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 buyer5 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 50
20% below estimate
The market5 lots with estimate and award · CPV 5011 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region)
20% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate20% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%40% / 40%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate40% / 40%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 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 716336 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published

This lot is listed as CPV 7163. 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. The bar shows 87 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet22% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 87 similar lots
1 bid22%
19 of 87 similar past lots received 1 bid (22%).
2–318%
16 of 87 similar past lots received 2–3 (18%).
4–636%
31 of 87 similar past lots received 4–6 (36%).
7+24%
21 of 87 similar past lots received 7+ (24%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 bids.
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.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

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

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

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
5 Mar 2026, 11:02 GMT
Last source update
5 Mar 2026, 11:02 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-019805
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Agricultural servicesAgricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural servicesFleet management, repair and maintenance servicesMachinery-inspection servicesMaintenance and repair services related to specific parts of vehiclesMiscellaneous repair and maintenance servicesRepair and maintenance services for pumps, valves, taps and metal containers and machineryRepair and maintenance services of motor vehicles and associated equipmentRepair, maintenance and associated services of vehicles and related equipmentTechnical inspection and testing services
+1 moreTechnical inspection services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0662ca Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

5 Mar 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published238 days ago
    5 Mar 2026, 11:02 GMT
  2. Market engagement231 days ago
    11 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT

    This RFI is a general market enquiry to identify and engage with suppliers who can provide Plant and Agricultural Machinery Service, Maintenance and Repairs to NI Water equipment. The purpose of this pre-tender market engagement exercise is to scope the capability and capacity of the market.

    As part of the pre-market engagement exercise, NI Water is inviting suppliers to respond to a Request for Information. This will assist NI Water in considering options for this requirement/service and developing our specification, if applicable.

    The RFI Questionnaire is currently available and you can request a copy via email at sourcing@niwater.com FAO Paul Clements. The RFI Questionnaire is to be completed and returned no later than 4pm Wednesday 11th March 2026.

  3. Contract starts28 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Mar 2026, 11:02 GMT
    UK2

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

Northern Ireland Water Limited

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PCZH-7295-JJTZ 40 Old Westland Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT14 6TEContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure