ANDBC Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise - Appointment of an Operating Partner for a Leisure Services Contract

Description

***This is not a tender exercise*** Ards and North Down Borough Council is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to appoint an Operating Partner for a Leisure Services contract. Prior to initiating the procurement, the Council is undertaking a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Exercise . This PME exercise is being conducted pursuant to section 16 of the Procurement Act 2023 for the purposes of: (a) developing the Council’s requirements and approach to the procurement; (b) designing conditions of participation and award criteria; (c) preparing the tender notice and associated tender documents; and (d) identifying suppliers capable of performing the proposed contract. The pre-market engagement is intended to facilitate high-level conversations to identify potential interested suppliers and capabilities to inform the Council’s procurement approach. A summary of the opportunity is detailed in the attached brochure. The Council intends to invite interested suppliers to a virtual information session (2 September 2026) with Council officers and advisors to discuss the forthcoming opportunity and process and is also asking interested suppliers to complete a questionnaire. The Council will also facilitate site visits at the relevant facilities for prospective suppliers during the PME period, if requested. If a site visit is requested during the PME phase, please highlight this via the messaging area of this CfT on eTendersNI. The Council’s intention is to commence a competitive tender process using the Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023 through eTendersNI. Interested suppliers will not be advantaged or prejudiced by participation or non-participation in the pre-market engagement. Participation or non-participation in this PME exercise will not prevent any supplier from participating in any future procurement process. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of a formal procurement process. In accordance with section 82 of the Procurement Act 2023, the Council will take all reasonable steps to ensure that no conflict of interest puts any supplier at an unfair advantage or disadvantage in relation to this procurement. To ensure a level playing field for all parties and without breaching commercial confidentiality, all relevant information shared or gathered during this engagement will be made available to all potential suppliers as part of the forthcoming competitive tender process. This market engagement process does not commit the Council to any course of action and is not a formal part of the tender process that will follow. Suppliers who wish to participate in the market engagement exercise should complete the PME questionnaire which can be found in the attached brochure and can be downloaded from the CfT documents area. The questionnaire must be completed and returned via this CfT's Messaging area on eTendersNI in accordance with the instructions detailed in the PME Questionnaire document. There are no formal tender documents to be completed other than the questionnaire. **Please Note: All completed questionnaires must be submitted via this CfT's messaging area on eTendersNI, before 12noon on Friday 11th September 2026**.