Official UK procurement notice
Specialist Highway Support Services
Authority: Kent County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionKent County Council (the Council) would like to expand the services provided under framework to allow access to additional independent services.
The services provided by the contract are required to:
•Give KCC confidence in budget preparation and management for highway and transportation scheme across the County.
•Support KCC in the preparation of NEC contract document and evaluation of tenders for major highway and transportation schemes.
•Support KCC in the ongoing management of construction contracts including contract administration, assessment of Compensation Events and payment applications, monitoring and financial reporting.
•Support the development of scheme proposals in relation to utilities and NRSWA requirements including liaison with individual utility companies to understand scheme impacts and diversions requirements.
•Deliver NEC programme reviews at design, tender and construction stages.
Proposed Framework Lot Structure:
Lot 1 – Independent Cost Consultancy
•provide independent cost consultancy services for the optioneering, bidding for funds, planning, preparation and construction of highway and transportation schemes across the County including quantity surveying, risk management and value management.
•provide cost consultancy services to support the preparation of NEC contract documents and in the evaluation of tenders to provide the construction of major highway and transportation schemes.
•provide cost consultancy services to support the NEC Project Manager during the construction of major highway and transportation schemes, including contract administration, assessment of Compensation Events and Payment Applications, monitoring and monthly financial reporting.
Lot 2 – Specialist Utility Support
•provide specialist utility support to improve dialogue and cost certainty with utility companies around diversions and scheme impacts following the NRSWA processes.
Lot 3 – Programme Review Support
•NEC programme review support for schemes (design and construction stages) to ensure compliance with scope and appropriate links, durations and logic.
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:
www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/tenders/UK-UK-Maidst… ↗
To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
CPV: Highways consultancy services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 3 yrs · up to 4 yrs from 1 Apr 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
- “Specialist Highway Support 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 Kent County Council buys Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131), and who usually turns up
Kent County Council’s published record next to the market for the same work. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) →
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 East England.
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 58 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 bid2% / 2%
2–314% / 8%
4–621% / 19%
7+63% / 71%
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.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.
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 7131Published estimate£4.0m
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 52 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid2%
2–38%
4–619%
7+71%
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
- 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
- 27 May 2026, 11:38 BST
- Last source update
- 27 May 2026, 11:38 BST
- Authority reference
CN260694- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-049536- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06a5cbFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
27 May 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published153 days ago27 May 2026, 11:38 BST
- Market engagement131 days ago17 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
Kent County Council (the Council) is engaging with suppliers regarding capacity in the market to provide the Specialist Highway Support Services requirements, via a market engagement exercise. All interested suppliers are asked to complete the published market engagement questionnaire and return to the Council by Wednesday 17th June 2026 deadline. After which further virtual market engagement discussions may be held with suppliers to discuss responses further in more detail.
As part of the Market Engagement exercise, all interested organisations are invited to complete a Market Engagement questionnaire via the Kent Business Portal (www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk ↗) (Ref: 1039031180). This will be used to gather information, and build on our existing market intelligence to shape our procurement strategy.
All responses to this questionnaire should be submitted via the Kent Business Portal, no later than 12pm on Wednesday 17th June 2026. All questionnaire responses will be treated as ‘commercial in confidence.
Please use the following access code to submit your market engagement questionnaire: 2GB25Z4A66
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 155 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 May 2026, 11:38 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