Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 21 Sept 2026, 11:04 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Welding and Fabrication (Blacksmith) Services

Authority: Walsall Housing Group Ltd (Housing)·On behalf of: Faithorn Farrell Timms

ServicesBelow thresholdLight touch regime
Planned pipeline value£375,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 15 Mar 2029 · up to 15 Mar 2032 with extensions · starts 16 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

whg are looking to engage with Suppliers in relation to an upcoming procurement for Welding and Fabrication (Blacksmith) Services. This is intended to appoint one Supplier to the Contract and the Contract will relate to circa GBP62,500.00 per annum (excluding VAT). Contract start dates are indicative at this time, and will be updated at the time of Tender Notice publication.

The Boards of whg and Aspire Housing officially announced their decision to approve merger plans on July 31, 2026, creating a combined housing association managing over 32,000 homes across the Midlands. Any contract awarded by whg following a procurement process may afford the opportunity for all current operating entities and any future operating entities of whg (including Aspire) to utilise the contract covering the groups geographical areas of service delivery.

CPV: Blacksmith services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrs
Contract period: 16 Mar 2027 – 15 Mar 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 15 Mar 2032 with extensions
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Walsall Housing Group Ltd buys Blacksmith services (CPV 7155), and who usually turns up

Walsall Housing Group Ltd’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: Blacksmith services (CPV 7155) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerWalsall Housing Group Ltd · all categories
The marketBlacksmith services (CPV 7155) · West Midlands
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: 1 of 8 known-size awards · market: division 71 · West Midlands, n=365
13%60%

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 West Midlands.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 4 of 9 known-location awards · market: division 71 · West Midlands, n=476
44%13%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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: no decision dates published · market: division 71 · West Midlands, n=55
—44 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 44 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 6 of 11 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 71 · West Midlands, n=539
55%49%

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 buyerToo few to chart: 1 lot with bid counts, 5 needed · all categories
The market86 lots with bid counts · division 71 · West Midlands
5% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid5%
Market: 4 of 86 lots with published bid counts.
2–323%
Market: 20 of 86 lots with published bid counts.
4–629%
Market: 25 of 86 lots with published bid counts.
7+43%
Market: 37 of 86 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 buyerToo few to chart: 1 lot with estimate and award, 5 needed · all categories
The market66 lots with estimate and award · division 71 · West Midlands
42% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate42%
Market: 28 of 66 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%36%
Market: 24 of 66 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate21%
Market: 14 of 66 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 715524 monthsPublished estimate£375k
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 1,116 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet12% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 1,116 similar lots
1 bid12%
139 of 1,116 similar past lots received 1 bid (12%).
2–323%
254 of 1,116 similar past lots received 2–3 (23%).
4–629%
328 of 1,116 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+35%
395 of 1,116 similar past lots received 7+ (35%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 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 £375k, 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
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Light touch regime
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
21 Sept 2026, 11:04 BST
Last source update
21 Sept 2026, 11:04 BST
Authority reference
PR-11453
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-089025
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Blacksmith services
Delivery area
East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07762d Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

21 Sept 2026 → 16 Mar 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published35 days ago
    21 Sept 2026, 11:04 BST
  2. Market engagement21 days ago
    5 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    whg have issued a Questionnaire with this Notice requesting the market to confirm if the contract will be of interest. A deadline for responses has been set as 5th October 2026 - forms.cloud.microsoft/e/tagrxA49V2 ↗

  3. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 139 days
    16 Mar 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    21 Sept 2026, 11:04 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

2 public bodies on the notice

Walsall Housing Group Ltd

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PYHD-5721-XWDQ 100 Hatherton Street, Walsall, West Midlands, WS1 1ABContact email

Other public bodies

  • Faithorn Farrell TimmsProcuring entityProcurement ConsultantGB-PPON: PRTJ-3918-WNWT Orpington, LondonContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure