Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 10 Sept 2026, 10:53 BST

Official UK procurement notice

PRE MARKET ENGAGEMENT FW137 QUANTITY SURVERYING AND COMMERIAL SERVICES

Authority: Translink (Central government)

Framework agreementServicesBelow thresholdUtilitiesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£5,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Framework period 5 yrsends 31 Aug 2032 · up to 31 Jul 2035 with extensions · starts 1 Sept 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Translink is considering the establishment of a Framework for the provision of quantity surveying, cost management, professional commercial, contractual and project support services to support the delivery of its capital investment and maintenance programmes. The Framework is intended to provide access to suitably qualified and experienced suppliers capable of supporting projects across the full project lifecycle, including strategic planning, design development, construction, contract administration and project close-out.

The Client's Infrastructure and Projects Division is responsible for the maintenance, renewal and development of assets across Northern Ireland Railways Company, Ulsterbus and Metro.

Projects may include, but are not limited to:

  • Rail infrastructure and permanent way
  • Bus infrastructure and passenger facilities
  • Railway stations, bus stations and integrated transport facilities
  • Offices, retail premises and operational buildings
  • Engineering workshops, depots, garages and storage facilities
  • Warehouses and logistics facilities
  • Park & Ride facilities and car parks
  • Bridges, tunnels, viaducts and other civil engineering structures
  • Roads, drainage and associated infrastructure
  • Mechanical and electrical installations
  • Building services, CCTV, lifts, escalators and security systems
  • Signalling and telecommunications infrastructure
  • Energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects
  • Refurbishment, maintenance, renewal and demolition works

The above list is indicative only and is not intended to be exhaustive.

CPV: Quantity surveying services

How this framework works

From the published notice
Framework period
5 yrs · up to 7 yrs 11 mo from 1 Sept 2027

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 5 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Sept 2027 – 31 Aug 2032 (5 yrs) · up to 31 Jul 2035 with extensions
Delivery: Northern IrelandEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
What this means for your bid
  • “PRE MARKET ENGAGEMENT FW137 QUANTITY SURVERYING AND COMMERIAL SERVICES” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

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

How Translink buys Engineering design services (CPV 7132), and who usually turns up

Translink’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Engineering design services (CPV 7132) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerTranslink · all categories
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: 6 of 9 known-size awards · market: CPV 7132 · UK-wide, n=12
67%75%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 2 known-location awards · market: CPV 7132 · UK-wide, n=19
1 of 279%

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: 3 decided notices · market: CPV 7132 · UK-wide, n=11
157 days54 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 157 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: exactly 1 of 9 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7132 · UK-wide, n=13
11%31%

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 buyer17 lots with bid counts · all categories
6% had one bid
The market35 lots with bid counts · CPV 7132 · UK-wide
3% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid6% / 3%
Buyer: 1 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
2–329% / 14%
Buyer: 5 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
4–624% / 17%
Buyer: 4 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
7+41% / 66%
Buyer: 7 of 17 lots with published bid counts. Market: 23 of 35 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.

On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.

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 713260 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£5.0m
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 33 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet3% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 33 similar lots
1 bid3%
1 of 33 similar past lots received 1 bid (3%).
2–312%
4 of 33 similar past lots received 2–3 (12%).
4–69%
3 of 33 similar past lots received 4–6 (9%).
7+76%
25 of 33 similar past lots received 7+ (76%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 18 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.

—Priced at call-off
On a framework or DPS the price is agreed on each call-off, so there is no award price to forecast here: the published figure is a ceiling.

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
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Utilities
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
10 Sept 2026, 10:53 BST
Last source update
10 Sept 2026, 10:53 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-085731
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Quantity surveying services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f66f Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Appointment period ends
—

Timeline

10 Sept 2026 → 1 Sept 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published48 days ago
    10 Sept 2026, 10:53 BST
  2. Market engagement8 days ago
    19 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    Completion of PME questionnaire via eTendersNI

  3. Today
    28 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 307 days
    1 Sept 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    10 Sept 2026, 10:53 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

Translink

Contracting authorityPublic undertakingNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PTMT-7134-NRMV 22 Great Victoria Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT2 7LXContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure