What is preliminary market engagement?
Preliminary market engagement is talking to suppliers and other people before a competition starts, so a contracting authority can understand what the market can offer and design a better procurement. The Procurement Act 2023 expressly permits it and requires the authority to take steps to ensure that no supplier gains an unfair advantage and that competition is not distorted.
Preliminary market engagement, explained
Good procurement starts before the tender. Preliminary market engagement lets a contracting authority test its thinking with suppliers and others before publishing a tender notice: whether the requirement is deliverable, what the market can realistically supply, how long it takes, what drives cost, what standards and innovations exist, and whether the way the contract is packaged will attract bidders or put them off. It commonly takes the form of engagement notices, questionnaires, supplier days, site visits and one to one meetings.
The Act sets a boundary around it. An authority carrying out preliminary market engagement must take steps to ensure that no supplier is put at an unfair advantage as a result, and that competition is not distorted. In practice that means sharing the same information with all bidders when the competition opens, allowing enough time for those who were not involved, and not letting a single supplier write the specification around its own product. Where an advantage cannot be put right by other means, the Act contemplates that supplier being excluded from the procurement.
Transparency is built in. Where an authority carries out preliminary market engagement, it must publish a preliminary market engagement notice, or explain in the tender notice why it did not. That makes engagement visible rather than private, so suppliers who were not part of it can see that it happened. Preliminary market engagement is not a competition and it is not a pipeline notice: nothing is being awarded and nothing is promised, and taking part gives no advantage in the tender that follows.
Key things to know
Happens before the tender
It takes place ahead of publishing a tender notice, while the requirement can still change.
Expressly permitted
The Procurement Act 2023 allows it and sets out what it may be used for, including developing the requirement and criteria.
No unfair advantage
The authority must take steps to ensure no supplier gains an unfair advantage from taking part.
Competition must not be distorted
A specification written around one supplier's product is the classic failure to avoid.
Notice required
Publish a preliminary market engagement notice, or explain in the tender notice why you did not.
No advantage in the tender
Taking part does not improve a supplier's position when the competition opens, and can lead to exclusion if advantage cannot be cured.
Explore: What is a pipeline notice?, What is the competitive flexible procedure?, What are conditions of participation?, Procurement Library.
How eSourcingData helps
eSourcingData makes market engagement structured and visible, so it improves the procurement instead of compromising it.
Run engagement properly
Issue questions, collect responses and keep a record of who was engaged and what was shared.
Level the information
Carry engagement findings into tender documents so every bidder starts from the same place.
Notice handled
Track the preliminary market engagement notice, or the explanation if you did not publish one.
Better requirements
Our procurement team helps you turn market insight into a specification suppliers can actually price.
FAQs
What is preliminary market engagement?
Preliminary market engagement is talking to suppliers and others before a competition starts, so a contracting authority can understand what the market can offer and design a better procurement. The Procurement Act 2023 permits it, provided the authority takes steps to ensure no supplier gains an unfair advantage and competition is not distorted.
Is preliminary market engagement allowed under the Procurement Act 2023?
Yes, expressly. The Act sets out that an authority may engage with suppliers and others before publishing a tender notice, for purposes including developing the requirement and the approach to the procurement. What it also requires is that the engagement does not give any supplier an unfair advantage or distort competition.
Does a buyer have to publish a notice about market engagement?
Where preliminary market engagement is carried out, the authority must publish a preliminary market engagement notice, or explain in the tender notice why it did not. That makes the engagement visible to suppliers who were not involved, rather than leaving it as a private conversation.
Can a supplier that took part still bid?
Usually yes. Taking part does not disqualify a supplier, and the point of engagement would be lost if it did. But if participation gave that supplier an advantage that cannot be put right, for example by sharing the same information with everyone and allowing enough time, the Act contemplates its exclusion from the procurement.
What is the difference between market engagement and a tender?
Nothing is being awarded during market engagement. It happens before the competition, while the requirement can still change, and no supplier is submitting an offer. A tender is the formal competitive stage where suppliers bid against a published specification and criteria, and the contract is decided.
Engage the market before you go to tender
See how eSourcingData helps UK buyers run structured, transparent market engagement under PA23. Book a demo or request a pilot.