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Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 11 Sept 2026, 17:42 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Pre Market Engagement for Catering Services

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: Capital City College (Education)·On behalf of: WLP Consulting

ServicesLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Food, beverages, tobacco and related products (15)Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products (39)Industrial machinery (42)
+1 moreHotel, restaurant and retail trade services (55)
 Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 9 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Jul 2030 · up to 31 Jul 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Aug 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The current catering contract expires on 31 July 2027. Rather than repeat what has gone before, Capital City College (CCC) wants to use the time available to design a contract that reflects how the market has moved, what students now expect, and what a London estate of this size and profile could realistically deliver. That includes the commercial side: CCC is actively interested in models that generate a financial return to the College alongside a high quality, affordable offer for students. This is a preliminary market engagement exercise conducted in accordance with sections 16 and 17 of the Procurement Act 2023 (“PA23”) to obtain honest, commercially informed feedback to support a future tender process. Please see the brief for further infirmation available for download from www.in-tendhost.co.uk/educationportal/aspx… ↗

CPV: Canteen and catering services · Catering services · Catering services for other enterprises or other institutions · Catering supplies · Meal delivery service · Meal-cooking services · Meal-preparation services · Meal-serving services · Prepared meals · School catering services · School meals · School-meal services · +1 more

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Aug 2027 – 31 Jul 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 31 Jul 2032 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
15894200 Prepared meals15894210 School meals39222000 Catering supplies42933000 Vending machines55320000 Meal-serving services55321000 Meal-preparation services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Capital City College buys Canteen and catering services (CPV 5550), and who usually turns up

Capital City College’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: Canteen and catering services (CPV 5550) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCapital City College · all categories
The marketCanteen and catering services (CPV 5550)
What to do with it
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 6 known-size awards · market: CPV 5550 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=6
67%17%

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 Greater London (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 9 known-location awards · market: CPV 5550 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=8
22%25%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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: 7 decided notices · market: CPV 5550 · UK-wide, n=13
42 days31 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 42 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.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 procurements with awards; rival share unknown · market: CPV 5550 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=9
—56%

Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.

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 buyer12 lots with bid counts · all categories
0% had one bid
The market37 lots with bid counts · CPV 5550 · UK-wide
22% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 22%
Buyer: 0 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
2–30% / 59%
Buyer: 0 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 22 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
4–642% / 19%
Buyer: 5 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
7+58% / 0%
Buyer: 7 of 12 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 37 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 buyerToo few to chart: 4 lots with estimate and award, 5 needed · all categories
The market13 lots with estimate and award · CPV 5550 · UK-wide
46% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate46%
Market: 6 of 13 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%46%
Market: 6 of 13 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate8%
Market: 1 of 13 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 158936 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published

This lot is listed as CPV 1589. 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 22 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet32% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 22 similar lots
1 bid32%
7 of 22 similar past lots received 1 bid (32%).
2–332%
7 of 22 similar past lots received 2–3 (32%).
4–627%
6 of 22 similar past lots received 4–6 (27%).
7+9%
2 of 22 similar past lots received 7+ (9%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 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
Light touch regime
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
11 Sept 2026, 17:42 BST
Last source update
23 Sept 2026, 18:04 BST
Authority reference
PME Catering
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-090341
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Canteen and catering servicesCatering servicesCatering services for other enterprises or other institutionsCatering suppliesMeal delivery serviceMeal-cooking servicesMeal-preparation servicesMeal-serving servicesPrepared mealsSchool catering services
+3 moreSchool mealsSchool-meal services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f8a6 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

11 Sept 2026 → 1 Aug 2027 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published45 days ago
    11 Sept 2026, 17:42 BST
  2. Latest notice published33 days ago
    23 Sept 2026, 18:04 BST
  3. Market engagement24 days ago
    2 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    This is not a competitive procurement. No selection criteria will be applied, no shortlist will be drawn from it, and participation is not a prerequisite for tendering. Equally, participating confers no advantage. CCC will take such steps as are necessary to ensure that no supplier is placed at an unfair advantage or disadvantage as a result of taking part, and that competition is not otherwise distorted, in accordance with the Act.

    Full details are provided in the PME brief available for download from www.in-tendhost.co.uk/educationportal/aspx… ↗ - registration to this site is free of charge.

    All data provided is indicative and draft. Where an EOI response raises matters that merit further discussion, CCC will engage with that organisation individually in accordance with the brief. All expressions of interest (EOI's) should be returned by midday 02.10.26 for inclusion in the PME to enable review and further discussion where required.

  4. Today
    26 Oct 2026
  5. Tender notice expectedin 14 days
    9 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  6. Contract startsin 278 days
    1 Aug 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Sept 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    11 Sept 2026, 17:42 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    23 Sept 2026, 18:04 BST
    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

3 public bodies on the notice

Capital City College

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PBXT-5983-JZRH Victoria Centre, 76 Vincent Square, London, London, SW1P 2PDContact name, email

Other public bodies

  • AGM Procurement LimitedProcess contact pointProcuring entitySupporting PMEGB-COH: 07431856 Sutton Coldfield, West MidlandsContact name, email, phone
  • WLP ConsultingProcess contact pointProcuring entityManaging the processGB-COH: 05373708 Oswestry, West MidlandsContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure