Official UK procurement notice
Shire Services Food & Related Contracts
Authority: Shropshire Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionShropshire Council is undertaking preliminary market engagement to inform a proposed consolidation of a number of standalone food and related supply contracts currently held by Shire Services, the Council's in-house catering and cleaning provider, serving approximately 140 schools and other establishments across Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, North Wales and the wider West Midlands.
The core scope under consideration covers: drinks and vending; kitchen disposables and light equipment; cleaning materials; grocery provisions; greengroceries; and Red Tractor assured marinated chicken. The Council is also testing market capability to deliver a certified nut-free bakery supply (biscuits and bakery products) as an optional addition to this scope, conditional on the outcome of this engagement.
The Council is seeking market feedback on packaging (multi-lot framework, single prime with SME sub-let, or a two-contract split), preferred route to market, and suppliers' own supply-chain and delivery models, ahead of a planned procurement. Participation is voluntary and this notice does not commit the Council to proceeding with any procurement.
Full details are set out in the accompanying Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) document, available from the contact given below.
CPV: Animal feedstuffs · Animal or vegetable oils and fats · Animal products, meat and meat products · Anti-dust products · Dairy products · Dishwashing products · Fruit, vegetables and related products · Grain mill products, starches and starch products · Kitchen equipment, household and domestic items and catering supplies · Miscellaneous food products · Non-alcoholic beverages · Prepared and preserved fish · +1 more
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Shropshire Council buys Cleaning products (CPV 3983), and who usually turns up
Shropshire 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: Cleaning products (CPV 3983) →
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 West Midlands.
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 26 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.
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.
1 bid18% / 4%
2–334% / 14%
4–632% / 7%
7+16% / 75%
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 estimate20% / 38%
Within ±2%71% / 38%
Above estimate9% / 25%
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 3983Published estimate£17m
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 20 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid10%
2–310%
4–640%
7+40%
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
- Goods
- 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
- 3 Aug 2026, 13:00 BST
- Last source update
- 3 Aug 2026, 13:00 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-073159- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d9e3Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 Aug 2026 → 1 May 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published85 days ago3 Aug 2026, 13:00 BST
- Market engagement64 days ago24 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
Interested suppliers are invited to review the Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) document, available on request from Lianne.Dow@shropshire.gov.uk, and to complete the market engagement questionnaire via the Microsoft Forms link below:
Link: forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗
This notice is for information only. The information contained in this notice, including the nature and scope of requirements, estimated value, service classification and CPV codes, is indicative of current thinking only, is neither exhaustive nor binding, and the Council reserves the right at its absolute discretion to amend it at the time of issue of any further notices or at any other time. Publication of this notice does not oblige the Council to commence any competitive tender process. The Council is not liable for any costs incurred by those participating in this engagement.
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 184 days1 May 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published3 Aug 2026, 13:00 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