Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Weed Control Contract · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Cardiff Council (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£1,200,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 31 Mar 2031 · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Pre-Market Engagement Weed Control Contract

The services required under this contract involve the successful contractor to undertake application of a range of pesticides and fertilisers and hand weeding across arrange of publicly accessible spaces located the city and county of Cardiff, the area of work covers the city’s 500 parks, over 300 housing estates, 2000km highway pavements but also includes special sites such as Cardiff Bay, cemeteries, Cardiff Castle and public rights of way.

The aim of the contract is to manage weed growth to the required standards on a variety of hard surfaces, planted areas, walls, sport surfaces (natural and artificial), and control the spread of noxious weeds (such as Japanese Knotweed). Further to this there may be additional work added to include maintenance of Sustainable Drainage features and Green Roofs.

These services must be delivered in accordance with the Government’s National Action Plan (NAP) so the contractor will be required to utilise the latest pesticide application technology to ensure that they comply with this and minimise the quantity of pesticides used to deliver the standards of control specified. Under this contract Cardiff Council will also require the contractor to reduce the volume of pesticide being used year on year over the period of the contract. The client will work with the contractor to help achieve this by increasing use of hand weeding, sweeping and mulching over the contract period.

The successful contractor will be required to hold several of the following independently awarded industry specific quality certificates and schemes before they can tender –

Amenity Assured Certificate

BASIS qualification

BASIS Advanced Contract certification

Amenity Assured Certification

Either ISO 14001 or BS9002 Or European equivalent certifications.

The contractor will be supplied with digital plans of the areas of work which will be provided as either .shp or .pdf and the contractor will be required to employ a digital system to record their work daily on either a stand-alone system or a shared system to allow the Council to monitor performance, in addition to this the contractor will undertake some self-monitoring which will also need report to the contract manager.

The contract is valued currently at just over £1.5M for the maximum four-year period assuming the two +1 extensions are taken up. The tender will be advertised in the winter of 26/27 and will be awarded once the tenders have been assessed using the following scores matrix 45% price : 45% quality : 10% Social value and will start in April 2027. The successful tenderer if not the current contractor should note that TUPE will apply to this contract and that payments are made on a monthly basis in accordance with a payment profile which will be included in the tender documentation.

The Council is interested in receiving feedback from suitably qualified contractors to better understand any factors that may influence participation in the tender process for this work.

If you have any questions that would help clarify the work required or the contract conditions or specification, please send them to HighwaysWasteandParks@cardiff.gov.uk. Further information can also be found on the Proactis Portal:supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login ↗

Project Name: Weed Control Contract Reference:ERFX1008927

CPV: Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2031 (4 yrs)
Delivery: WalesEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Cardiff Council buys Agricultural, forestry, horticultural services (CPV 77), and who usually turns up

Cardiff 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: Agricultural, forestry, horticultural services (CPV 77) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCardiff Council · 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: 12 of 25 known-size awards · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=37
48%81%

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. The market figure counts awards delivered in Wales (Cymru).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 27 of 43 known-location awards · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=56
63%64%

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: 15 decided notices · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=15
61 days41 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 61 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.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 17 of 36 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 77 · Wales (Cymru), n=40
47%20%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer24 lots with bid counts · all categories
13% had one bid
The market36 lots with bid counts · division 77 · Wales (Cymru)
25% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 25%
Buyer: 3 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
2–346% / 31%
Buyer: 11 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
4–638% / 33%
Buyer: 9 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
7+4% / 11%
Buyer: 1 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 36 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.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer21 lots with estimate and award · all categories
48% below estimate
The market28 lots with estimate and award · division 77 · Wales (Cymru)
39% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate48% / 39%
Buyer: 10 of 21 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%24% / 14%
Buyer: 5 of 21 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate29% / 46%
Buyer: 6 of 21 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
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 7748 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.2m

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 77. The comparison uses that group.

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 36 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet25% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 36 similar lots
1 bid25%
9 of 36 similar past lots received 1 bid (25%).
2–331%
11 of 36 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–633%
12 of 36 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+11%
4 of 36 similar past lots received 7+ (11%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.2m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
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
29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST
Last source update
29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST
Authority reference
ERFX1008927
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091882
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services
Delivery area
Wales (UKL)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077c79 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

29 Sept 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published27 days ago
    29 Sept 2026, 13:36 BST
  2. Market engagement12 days ago
    14 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    Details regarding this notice can be found via: supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login ↗

    Project name: Weed Control Contract

    Reference: ERFX1008927

  3. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 66 days
    1 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 155 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    29 Sept 2026, 13:36 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

Cardiff Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PVHP-5769-YHRQ County Hall, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 4UWContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure