Official UK procurement notice
PME exercise for energy procurement and support services.
Authority: Belfast City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe contracting authority seeks to establish a contract for the provision of energy procurement and support services.
Services may include, but are not limited to, energy market intelligence and forecasting, energy procurement and trading support, contract management, budgeting and financial planning, invoice validation and bill auditing, consumption analysis, risk management, sustainability and carbon reporting support, regulatory compliance advice, utility data management, and related consultancy services.
The appointed provider(s) may be required to support the contracting authority in obtaining best value from its energy portfolio and in developing and implementing energy procurement strategies primarily across electricity and gas supplies.
CPV: Energy-management services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Belfast City Council buys Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131), and who usually turns up
Belfast City 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: Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) →
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 Northern Ireland.
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 44 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 bid40% / 11%
2–30% / 24%
4–640% / 49%
7+20% / 16%
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 estimate15% / 34%
Within ±2%69% / 42%
Above estimate17% / 24%
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 7131Estimate 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 37 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid11%
2–324%
4–649%
7+16%
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
- 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
- 2 Oct 2026, 15:29 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Oct 2026, 15:29 BST
- Authority reference
T2684a- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093465- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077fffFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
2 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published24 days ago2 Oct 2026, 15:29 BST
- Market engagement3 days ago23 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
Belfast City Council is undertaking a preliminary market engagement exercise to inform the development of a future procurement for Energy Procurement and Support Services.
The purpose of this engagement is to gain a better understanding of the services available within the market, emerging trends, delivery models, innovation opportunities, and potential procurement approaches. Information gathered through this exercise will assist in shaping the scope, specification and procurement strategy for any subsequent procurement process.
Interested suppliers are invited to participate and provide feedback on their capabilities, service offerings, market insights and experience in delivering services such as energy procurement, trading support, budget forecasting, invoice validation, market intelligence, contract management, reporting and related energy management services.
Participation in this engagement exercise is entirely voluntary and will not form part of any evaluation process. A future procurement opportunity, if progressed, will be advertised separately and participation in this engagement will neither confer any advantage nor disadvantage to any supplier.
If you are interested in participating in this exercise please email cps@belfastcity.gov.uk to register your interest on or before 23rd October 2026. After this date BCC will be in touch regarding next steps which will likely involve meeting (via MS Teams) to discuss the requirement.
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 35 days1 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 155 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Oct 2026, 15:29 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