Leeds City Council Fire Risk Assessment Works Framework: How to Bid for One of Two Places Before 3 November 2026

Leeds City Council Fire Risk Assessment Works Framework: How to Bid for One of Two Places Before 3 November 2026

Leeds City Council is running a closed framework procurement for fire risk assessment remedial works worth £1.4 million over three years, with one optional extension year. The deadline is 12:00 on 3 November 2026, and only two contractors will be appointed. If you hold third-party certification for fire door installation and passive fire protection, you have twelve days from today (week starting 2026-10-22) to prepare a submission that meets a 60 percent quality threshold before price is even considered.

This is not an open call-off arrangement. Once the two places are filled, the framework is closed for the duration. You are competing for one of two seats, not for individual jobs later.

What the framework covers

Find a Tender notice 090622-2026 describes the scope as fire stopping works, passive fire protection remediation and fire door installation and replacement across Leeds City Council housing and non-housing stock. The three-year term runs from award in late 2026 through to 2029, with a discretionary one-year extension available to the authority.

The £1.4 million ceiling excludes VAT and represents the aggregate value across both contractors over the initial term. If Leeds exercises the extension, that figure rises proportionately. The procurement is managed through the Jaggaer portal, and clarification questions close at 12:00 on 27 October 2026. Updates 091296 and 092433 on Find a Tender contain buyer responses to earlier questions. Read those before drafting your own queries.

How a two-place framework differs from wider schemes

National frameworks such as SCAPE and Procure Partnerships list dozens of contractors across regional lots. A buyer issues a mini-competition, three or four firms respond, and the lowest compliant price typically wins.

Leeds is appointing only two suppliers. Once you are on, call-off is likely to alternate or be allocated by availability, workload and specialist capability. The competitive element happens now, at framework stage. After award, your revenue depends on maintaining service standards and capacity, not on winning repeated tenders.

This structure favours established local contractors with track records on council housing stock. If you have completed fire door programmes or compartmentation works for Leeds or neighbouring authorities in the last three years, reference those contracts by value and client contact. If you have not, cite comparable social housing clients within Yorkshire and demonstrate you can mobilise to Leeds within a week of instruction.

The 60 percent quality threshold and how it is scored

Leeds applies a two-stage evaluation. Quality is scored first, and any bidder failing to achieve 60 percent is eliminated before the pricing schedules are opened. Among those clearing the threshold, the two appointments go to the highest combined quality and price scores.

Threshold scoring of this kind is not about perfect prose. Evaluators read your method statements against a published marking grid, often with five bands: unacceptable (zero), poor (25 percent), acceptable (50 percent), good (75 percent), excellent (100 percent). A 60 percent threshold means you must average well into the acceptable band across all weighted questions, with no unacceptable scores dragging the total below the line.

Common quality questions for fire safety frameworks include methodology for survey and specification, programme management and minimising disruption to occupied dwellings, quality assurance and snagging cycles, competence and training of operatives, and health and safety management. Leeds will also ask for case studies demonstrating comparable works.

Evaluators score what is written, not what they assume you might do. If the question asks how you manage works in occupied homes and your answer describes general site setup without mentioning resident liaison, out-of-hours working or decant protocols, you score in the poor or acceptable band regardless of your actual track record. Be explicit. Reference your process by name if you have one, attach a flowchart as an appendix if the page count allows, and cite a recent contract where that process was applied.

Evidence for third-party certification

Fire door installation to BS 8214 and passive fire protection to BS 9999 and related standards require demonstrable competence. Leeds will expect third-party certification from schemes such as BM TRADA Q-Mark for fire doors, IFC Passive Fire Protection Product Certification, or equivalent accreditation under FIRAS (Fire Industry Association schemes).

If your organisation holds Q-Mark or FIRAS registration, state the certificate number and expiry date in your quality submission. If individual operatives hold cards under the FIRAS Contractor Scheme or are registered fire door installers, list those by name and number. Do not assume the evaluator will infer competence from membership of a trade body. Accreditation and third-party audit are scored separately from general experience.

Where the tender explicitly requires certification and you do not hold it, do not bid. A non-compliant response wastes your time and scores zero. Where certification is desirable rather than mandatory, explain your quality management system in detail and commit to achieving accreditation by a named date if appointed.

Pricing without undercutting

Once quality scores are calculated, Leeds opens the pricing schedules and applies a price-quality weighting. The notice does not publish that weighting in advance, but 60:40 or 50:50 quality-to-price splits are common for works frameworks of this value.

You will price a schedule of rates covering fire door supply and installation by type, linear metre rates for fire stopping to various construction types, and day or hourly rates for survey and snagging. The schedule may include provisional quantities or be entirely rate-based.

Do not submit loss-leading rates to secure appointment. A two-contractor framework with a three-year term means Leeds will call off work regularly and compare outputs between both suppliers. If your door installation rate is £400 and the true cost including labour, materials, supervision, insurance and margin is £520, you will either deliver poor quality to stay within budget or seek variations on every job. Both outcomes damage your reputation and risk removal from the framework.

Price realistically for West Yorkshire labour rates, current material costs for certified fire doors and intumescent materials, and include for supervision, testing and handover documentation. As of October 2026, typical installation rates for FD30 doorsets in social housing refurbishment projects range from £450 to £650 per door depending on frame condition, architrave replacement and ironmongery specification. Use your actual costs and add a sustainable margin. If that price is not competitive, the framework is not the right opportunity.

Worked example with realistic numbers

Illustrative scenario: a passive fire contractor with Q-Mark certification and three recent housing association clients in South Yorkshire considers the Leeds framework. Annual turnover is £2.8 million, and the firm operates two installation teams of four operatives each.

The contractor reviews the tender and estimates that over three years, Leeds may call off around £700,000 of work, split between two suppliers. That implies £350,000 over three years, or roughly £117,000 per year, for one of the two places. At the contractor's current margin, that work contributes approximately £18,000 annual gross profit and occupies one team for around six weeks each year.

Bid costs are estimated at £6,000 in senior time for method statements, case studies, pricing and review. The quality section comprises six weighted questions. The contractor scores its draft responses internally: three questions are judged good standard (75 percent each), two acceptable (50 percent each), and one weak (25 percent). Weighted average: 58 percent. Below threshold.

The contractor revises the weak answer, adding a named case study with client contact and before-and-after photographs, and improves one acceptable answer by committing to a dedicated Leeds account manager and citing a previous council framework where that model was used. Revised internal score: 67 percent. The bid proceeds.

After award, the contractor is appointed to one of the two places. Over the first twelve months, Leeds issues four call-offs totalling £104,000. The work is delivered on programme, and the relationship is strong. In year two, the contractor is invited to quote for additional work outside the original scope, which extends the relationship beyond the framework ceiling.

This example is illustrative, but the logic is typical. A small framework with limited value suits a mid-sized specialist contractor looking for steady pipeline, not a large firm seeking transformational revenue.

Day-by-day plan to submission on 3 November 2026

Today is Thursday 22 October 2026. You have twelve calendar days to submission at 12:00 on Monday 3 November 2026.

By Friday 23 October, download all tender documents from Jaggaer, read the specification and pricing schedules, and identify which questions require case studies, organograms, programmes or appendices. Register for the portal if you have not already done so. Technical problems at registration stage can delay access by 24 hours.

By Monday 26 October, draft all quality responses and identify gaps in evidence. If a question asks for a health and safety policy and yours was last reviewed in the previous 2024 cycle, update and reissue it with a 2026 date. Gather certification documents, insurance schedules and client references. Draft your clarification questions.

Submit clarification questions by 12:00 on Sunday 27 October 2026. The deadline falls on a weekend, so draft and submit by close of business on Friday 25 October if you want a realistic chance of a response before final submission.

By Wednesday 30 October, complete your pricing schedule. Check every cell for formula errors, and ensure rates are exclusive of VAT. Cross-reference your rates against recent jobs to confirm they reflect current costs. If Leeds has included provisional quantities, calculate the total price and sense-check it against the £1.4 million framework ceiling divided by two contractors.

By Friday 1 November, finalise all documents, convert to PDF where required, and name files according to the buyer's instructions. Upload to Jaggaer and complete all form fields. Do not wait until Monday morning.

On Monday 3 November, submit by 10:00 to allow a two-hour buffer for portal issues. If submission fails at 11:58, you have no remedy. Late bids are rejected automatically.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bid if I am not currently on a fire safety framework?

Yes, provided you hold the necessary third-party certification and can evidence comparable works. Leeds evaluates competence and methodology, not prior framework appointment. A strong case study from a direct housing association client or a developer-led project carries the same weight as framework experience, provided the scope and value are similar.

What happens if only one bidder clears the 60 percent quality threshold?

Leeds retains discretion to award to fewer than two contractors if insufficient compliant bids are received, or to re-run the procurement. A single-supplier framework creates dependency risk for the buyer, so the authority may negotiate with the single qualifying bidder or may abort and re-tender with revised requirements or a lower threshold.

Is the £1.4 million ceiling a guide or a cap, and how is work split between the two contractors?

The £1.4 million figure is a maximum aggregate value over the initial three-year term, not a guaranteed commitment. Leeds may spend less if capital budgets are reduced or if survey findings reveal lower remediation requirements than forecast. Work allocation between the two contractors is at the authority's discretion, typically based on availability, specialist capability for a particular element, or rotation to maintain competitive tension.

Confirm all details, deadlines and requirements on Find a Tender notice 090622-2026 before committing bid resource. This article reflects information published as of the week starting 2026-10-22 and should not replace your own due diligence.

If you need support drafting method statements, pricing schedules or case studies under a tight deadline, Glaxtons works with fire safety contractors on local authority frameworks. Our model is a success fee tied to call-off contract wins after framework award, not to the framework appointment itself. We charge nothing unless you win work.

Call 020 3668 5488

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