Official UK procurement notice
Soft Facilities Management - Soft market testing
Authority: Bristol City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBristol City Council (BCC) is seeking to define the most efficient and cost-effective method for its soft facilities management across its estate
The purpose of this engagement is to assess the market's capacity to meet Bristol City Council's facilities management needs, gather supplier insights, and inform future delivery strategies. The council is committed to delivering high-quality services while ensuring value for money and sustainability.
The ask of the market is to provide information across cleaning, security, pest control, cash and valuables in transit, and window cleaning services on the following aspects:
- Innovative practices
- Value Delivery in Contracts
- Pricing Models
- Market Capacity
- Resource Allocation
- Sustainability Practices
Further information around this soft market engagement can be found in the Soft Market Engagement form that is attached to the ProContract Project, a link can be found in this notice.
The deadline for submitting your Soft Market Engagement form is 12:00 on 6th November 2025.
Please note, the duration / value of the contract is still TBC. The information provided may change on the basis of market engagement.
CPV: Cleaning services · Facility related sanitation services · Security services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Bristol City Council buys Cleaning services (CPV 9091), and who usually turns up
Bristol 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: Cleaning services (CPV 9091) →
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 South West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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 bid19% / 7%
2–332% / 14%
4–639% / 39%
7+10% / 40%
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 estimate50% / 35%
Within ±2%45% / 31%
Above estimate5% / 33%
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 7971Published estimate£20m
This lot is listed as CPV 7971. 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 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–313%
4–620%
7+53%
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
- 28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMT
- Last source update
- 28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMT
- Authority reference
DN795216- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-068868- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d502Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
28 Oct 2025 → 1 Jul 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published363 days ago28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMT
- Market engagement354 days ago6 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
Bristol City Council is seeking engagement from the market by way of submitting a Soft Market Engagement form via ProContract.
procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗
The Council may choose to have 1 to 1 meetings where information submitted needs clarifying.
The Council does not commit to any route to market as a result of this market engagement process, and reserves the right to cancel the project in its entirety.
- Contract starts118 days ago1 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMTUK2
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