Official UK procurement notice
PRELIMINARY MARKET NOTICE PA2023 Armagh Observatory and Planetarium – Appointment of specialist internal LED dome system supplier
Authority: Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (Central government)·On behalf of: Department of Finance (Northern Ireland)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Client is currently considering a Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. The anticipated approach is a streamlined process broadly aligned with an open procedure, comprising a single stage covering the Pre-Selection Questionnaire (PSQ) and Invitation to Tender (ITT) requirements.
An optional negotiation stage may be included if further clarification or negotiation is required, particularly in relation to price and other commercial matters.
The PME seeks to obtain market intelligence, technical advice and supplier feedback in relation to a potential procurement for the design, supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of a LED planetarium dome.
Refer to Project context and reference guide for further information including the link (pg.21) to access and complete the PME questionnaire.
Interested parties are asked to log into eTendersNI where the questionnaire is available at the link below.
etendersni.gov.uk/epps/cft/prepareView… ↗
Please also confirm once you have downloaded and read the questionnaire in the eTendersNI portal.
CPV: Assembly and erection of prefabricated structures · Audio-visual equipment · Electrical installation work · Engineering design services · Installation of cable infrastructure · Installation services of video equipment · Screens · Technical testing services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Armagh Observatory and Planetarium buys Electrical installation work (CPV 4531), and who usually turns up
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium has little published record in this market. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Electrical installation work (CPV 4531) →
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.
Across this market, small firms won 100% of awards with a known supplier size.
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.
Across this market, 75% of winners were registered in the delivery region.
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 48 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.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Across this market, 33% of awarded procurements had no recorded rival.
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 bid11%
2–367%
4–622%
7+0%
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 estimate38%
Within ±2%32%
Above estimate30%
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 3232Published estimate£7.6m
This lot is listed as CPV 3232. The table above uses the notice category.
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.
1 bid18%
2–333%
4–630%
7+18%
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
- Works
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- 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
- 8 Sept 2026, 08:47 BST
- Last source update
- 15 Sept 2026, 15:02 BST
- Authority reference
6719157- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-087390- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f414Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
8 Sept 2026 → 9 Apr 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published51 days ago8 Sept 2026, 08:47 BST
- Latest notice published43 days ago15 Sept 2026, 15:02 BST
- Market engagement33 days ago25 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
The PME seeks to obtain market intelligence, technical advice and supplier feedback in relation to a potential procurement for the design, supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of a LED planetarium dome.
Refer to Project context and reference guide for further information including the link (pg.21) to access and complete the PME questionnaire.
Interested parties are asked to log into eTendersNI where the questionnaire is available at the link below.
etendersni.gov.uk/epps/cft/prepareView… ↗
Please also confirm once you have downloaded and read the questionnaire in the eTendersNI portal.
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 161 days9 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 8 Sept 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Sept 2026, 08:47 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Sept 2026, 12:05 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published15 Sept 2026, 15:02 BSTUK2
Published amendments (2)
Link to questionnaire on eTendersNI
Closing date now changed till 25th September at 3pm.
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 noticeOther public bodies
- Department of Finance (Northern Ireland)Beneficiary authority
- CPD - Construction DivisionProcess contact pointProcuring entityThe Authority has appointed CPD as the CoPE to provide procurement advice and to administer this procurement competition on its behalf as a buyer
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender