Agenda item

Tender Pipeline 2026/27

Report for decision.

Decision:

ORDERED that Executive:

1. Approves the Middlesbrough Council tender pipeline for 2026/27.

2. Approves delegation of the contract award to the relevant Director who will update their Executive Member

AGREED that Executive:

• Notes that any above threshold tender with a contract value over £2million would have a Tender Pipeline Notice published in line with Procurement Act 2023.

• Notes that any above threshold tender with a contract value below £2million will be published on the Council’s website only.

• Notes that below threshold quotations, direct awards and framework call offs will not be published as they are closed competition opportunities.

Minutes:

The Executive Member for Finance submitted a report for Executive consideration seeking approval of Middlesbrough Council’s tender pipeline for 2026/27. The report also sought agreement for a delegation of the contract award to the relevant Director who would update their Executive Member accordingly.

Members were advised that the report was not the Corporate Procurement Strategy. That strategy contained issues such as social value. A tender pipeline was used to provide the market with an understanding of the potential future open procurement activity the Council may undertake in the next 12-18 months.

The Procurement Act 2023 required the Council to formally publish tender pipeline notices for any procurement where the contract value was over £2million.

As there were limited contracts that would meet that criteria the Council would continue to publish open procurement opportunities on its own website.

The Council’s Corporate Procurement Strategy 2024 - 2026 set out the strategic direction for the implementation of the contract procedure rules, which were the regulatory framework for all staff to follow in respect of purchasing goods, services and works regardless of value.

The strategy supported the aims and priorities of the Council. It set out how the Council would:

• Strive to make procurement easier for suppliers and the Council alike.

• Challenge and drive value for money from all procurement activity.

• Maximise innovation, sustainability, and collaboration in our procurement activities to support the Council’s strategic objectives.

• Ensure social value and local return was at the heart of procurement opportunities.

• Continue to increase the visibility of our tender opportunities to the local and SME suppliers.

• Make the best use of local, sub-regional, regional and national collaborative arrangements where significant benefits for Middlesbrough could be evidenced.

• Within that corporate procurement strategy, a tender pipeline was used to provide the market with an understanding of the potential future open procurement activity the Council may have been undertaken in the next 12 months and increased the visibility of tender opportunities.

• The tender pipeline may have been of particular benefit to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises as it provided them time to plan for future work, ensuring a competitive and diverse market.

Middlesbrough Council’s tender pipeline for 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027 had been developed as part of the Council’s governance processes.

To be transparent, the pipeline included all known procurement activity and not just contracts over the key decision threshold. As such, not all these opportunities will be publicly available as not all opportunities are available to the full market.

OPTIONS

Do nothing. This was not an option as it would not support strong governance or allow the Council to be compliant with the upcoming Procurement Act requirements to publish a tender pipeline.