--- title: "Catering for STEAM - Museum of The Great Western Railway" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Swindon Borough Council" published: "2026-08-28" --- # Catering for STEAM - Museum of The Great Western Railway Buyer: Swindon Borough Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83.json) ## Summary Swindon Borough Council is exploring catering services for STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon. The requirement covers food and beverage provision across the museum’s three core business segments: conferencing, special events and banqueting, and café services. The council is considering either one catering partner or multiple operators. This is a service contract for canteen and catering services, including the operational delivery needed to support museum events, conferences, hospitality and café activity. The council is seeking supplier views on how these services should be specified and commercially structured, with the aim of achieving suitable outcomes for STEAM and the council. The work is therefore suited to catering businesses able to operate across several hospitality settings within a visitor attraction and events venue. This procurement is at the planning stage and the current process is preliminary market engagement, not an invitation to tender. The council is using a questionnaire to understand supplier interest and help shape a future specification and commercial model; responses are expected by 28 September 2026 at 15:00 UK time. The anticipated contract is planned to start on 1 April 2027 and run to 31 March 2032, with renewal options extending the maximum end date to 31 March 2034. The estimated spend is £2.4 million for the initial five-year term and £3.6 million for the potential seven-year term, with a recorded gross estimate of £4.32 million. The council is considering a single-operator or multi-operator arrangement. The engagement will suit established catering and hospitality suppliers with the operational capacity to deliver several service types at the same museum: café catering, conference hospitality, special-event catering and banqueting. Businesses with experience of running food and beverage services in visitor attractions, cultural venues, conference facilities or event spaces are likely to be well placed to contribute. The buyer is specifically looking for views that can improve the eventual service specification and commercial model, so suppliers should be prepared to explain delivery models, staffing, menu and service capability, event operations, café management and quality control. Both a lead catering partner capable of covering the full requirement and specialist operators able to provide particular service areas may be relevant when the future procurement reaches the market. ## Notice Swindon Borough Council is seeking to explore future options for the delivery of conferencing, banqueting, special events and cafe catering at STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon. The Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) questionnaire have been produced to enable Swindon Borough Council to engage with potential suppliers and to understand the market and the potential interest in this opportunity. Any information provided will only be used for research purposes. The supporting questionnaire does not constitute an Invitation to Tender process, and will not be judged against any criteria, nor will it inform any potential tender process in the future, and no award of any contract will be made as part of this process. ### Planning Information Catering for STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway Swindon Borough Council invites you to contribute to preliminary market engagement in relation to catering for STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway and would welcome the views of suppliers on the questions set out in the questionnaire. The intention is to invite supplier feedback to help shape the final specification and commercial model to ensure the tender delivers the optimum outcomes for the Council. STEAM is considering either appointing a single catering partner or multiple operators to deliver high-quality food and beverage services to the museum’s three core business segments: • Conferencing • Special Events & Banqueting • Café The initial contract term will be for 60 months with an option to extend for a further 24 months (2 periods of 12 months) for a potential total contract term of 7 years. Estimated contract spend is £2.4m across the initial 5 year contract term and £3.6m across the potential total 7 year contract term. Engagement Process Description To participate in the Preliminary Market Engagement Suppliers will need to Register as a Supplier with ProContract, www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk, then Register an Interest before obtaining access to the Preliminary Market Engagement documents. Responses to the Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire are required to be submitted no later than 28th September 2026, 15:00 hrs UK Local time via ProContract tender portal - https://www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk/ ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/082173-2026 | | 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 | 28 Aug 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 28 Sep 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Apr 2027 - 31 Mar 2032 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £3,600,000 | | 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 | Swindon Borough Council | | Locality | SWINDON | | Postcode area | Swindon | | Postcode | SN1 2JH | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) | | ITL 2 | TLK7 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | | ITL 3 | TLK71 Swindon | | Local authority | Swindon | | Electoral ward | Eastcott | | Westminster constituency | Swindon South | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 55 - Hotel, restaurant and retail trade services ### Codes - 55500000 - Canteen and catering services ## Release History - 28 Aug 2026 at 13:04 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/082173-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/082173-2026 28th August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents - https://www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk/ - https://www.swindon.gov.uk ## 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-06ee83. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee83.json.