--- title: "Preliminary Market Engagement for Non-Emergency Ambulance Patient Transport Service" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e627" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e627" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e627.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e627.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service" published: "2026-08-18" --- # Preliminary Market Engagement for Non-Emergency Ambulance Patient Transport Service Buyer: Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e627 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e627) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e627.json) ## Summary The Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service is seeking market views on behalf of Health and Social Care Northern Ireland about a non-emergency ambulance patient transport service. The planned service covers transporting patients who do not require emergency ambulance treatment, together with associated health, paramedical and specialist passenger transport activity. It is a service contract involving road transport, passenger vehicles with drivers and supporting transport services. The work is for Northern Ireland, with the buying organisation based in Ballymena. The procurement is intended to inform potential requirements rather than appoint a supplier at this stage. Businesses involved in non-emergency patient transport, ambulance operations, healthcare transport, accessible passenger services or specialist road transport are the most relevant participants in the market engagement. This process is at the planning stage and is a preliminary market engagement exercise, not an invitation to tender. The buyer expects interested suppliers to complete a CP12 Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire through the eTendersNI secure messaging area for Call for Tender reference 6681680. The buyer’s stated response time is 15:00 on 2 September 2026. Any future procurement would be a separate exercise, and showing interest does not commit a supplier to participate in it. The planned contract is one lot, with an indicative period from 1 November 2027 to 31 October 2031. The recorded gross value is £0, although the market engagement is intended to establish the potential requirements. No award procedure or evaluation basis has yet been set out. This engagement is most relevant to operators that can deliver reliable non-emergency patient transport at a healthcare-system scale across Northern Ireland. Suitable businesses may include ambulance and patient transport providers, specialist passenger transport companies, vehicle-with-driver operators, and organisations combining transport with paramedical support. Useful preparation would include demonstrating experience of transporting patients safely, operating suitable accessible or specialist vehicles, managing drivers and transport staff, and coordinating scheduled journeys for health and social care users. Providers with established dispatch, booking, safeguarding, incident-management and service-continuity arrangements are likely to be well placed to explain how they could meet the eventual requirement. The questionnaire gives the market an opportunity to shape the buyer’s understanding before any future tender, but suppliers should not treat this engagement as a current bid opportunity. ## Notice This is a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice to seek engagement with the market place to gather information associated with the service for Non-Emergency Ambulance Patient Transport Service. To this end the Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service on behalf of Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI), wish to engage with potential suppliers to obtain a market view of the potential requirements through the completion of a Questionnaire. Any interested suppliers are required to submit their response through the eTendersNI secure messaging area of the Call for Tender (CfT) Ref: 6681680. All correspondence in relation to this Preliminary Market Engagement exercise must be communicated via the eTendersNI secure messaging area. Suppliers will be required to submit their completed CP12 Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire no later than 15:00 hours on 02 September 2026. To register on eTendersNI and access the CP12 Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire, please use the following link: - https://etendersni.gov.uk and locate CfT Ref: 6681680. Suppliers should also note that any interest shown does not constitute a commitment to participate in any future tendering exercise. ### Planning Information This is a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice to seek engagement with the market place to gather information associated with the service for Non-Emergency Ambulance Patient Transport Service. To this end the Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service on behalf of Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI), wish to engage with potential suppliers to obtain a market view of the potential requirements through the completion of a Questionnaire. Any interested suppliers are required to submit their response through the eTendersNI secure messaging area of the Call for Tender (CfT) Ref: 6681680. All correspondence in relation to this Preliminary Market Engagement exercise must be communicated via the eTendersNI secure messaging area. Suppliers will be required to submit their completed CP12 Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire no later than 15:00 hours on 02 September 2026. To register on eTendersNI and access the CP12 Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire, please use the following link: - https://etendersni.gov.uk and locate CfT Ref: 6681680. Suppliers should also note that any interest shown does not constitute a commitment to participate in any future tendering exercise. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078362-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 18 Aug 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 2 Sep 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Nov 2027 - 31 Oct 2031 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service | | Locality | BALLYMENA | | Postcode area | Northern Ireland | | Postcode | BT43 6DA | | Country | Northern Ireland | | ITL 1 | TLN Northern Ireland | | ITL 2 | TLN0 Northern Ireland | | ITL 3 | TLN0F Mid and East Antrim | | Local authority | Mid and East Antrim | | Electoral ward | Park | | Westminster constituency | North Antrim | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport) - 63 - Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 60000000 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport) - 60100000 - Road transport services - 60130000 - Special-purpose road passenger-transport services - 60140000 - Non-scheduled passenger transport - 60170000 - Hire of passenger transport vehicles with driver - 63000000 - Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services - 85100000 - Health services - 85142000 - Paramedical services - 85143000 - Ambulance services ## Release History - 18 Aug 2026 at 09:16 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078362-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078362-2026 18th August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://etendersni.gov.uk - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e627. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e627.json.