Kent Fire Safety Products and Associated Services Framework 2026: Lots, Scoring and Deadline
Kent County Council's Procurement Services published the £120m Fire Safety Products and Associated Services framework on Find a Tender on 6 October 2026. Four lots: products and extinguishers, active fire protection, passive fire protection, and fire risk assessment and consultancy. Open framework usable by every UK public body, direct award permitted on the published ranking, four year term from 22 January 2027. Clarifications close 5pm on 22 October and submissions close 5pm on 5 November 2026 on Delta eSourcing. That is 28 days away.
Key facts at a glance
- Buyer
- Kent County Council trading as Procurement Services
- Tender notice
- Find a Tender 2026/S 000-094259, published 6 October 2026
- Clarification deadline
- 5pm on Thursday 22 October 2026
- Submission deadline
- 5pm on Thursday 5 November 2026
- Estimated value
- £120 million excluding VAT (£144 million including VAT)
- Lots
- Four: products (£30m), active fire (£48m), passive fire (£27m), fire risk assessment and consultancy (£15m)
- Award criteria
- Quality 60%, price 30%, social value 10%, on every lot
- Framework term
- 22 January 2027 to 21 January 2031
- Framework type
- Open framework under the Procurement Act 2023; call-off with or without further competition
- Call-off routes
- Direct award on the published ranking, rapid request for quote, or further competition
- Who can use it
- Any UK contracting authority: central government, councils, NHS, emergency services, education, housing associations, charities and more
- Supplier levy
- 1% of call-off charges
- Portal
- Delta eSourcing, access code H778QWF582
- Buyer contact
- procurementdelivery@csltd.org.uk
The four lots
The lots follow how fire safety contractors already describe themselves, which is rarer than it sounds. An extinguisher and signage supplier is Lot 1. An alarm, emergency lighting and suppression firm is Lot 2a. A fire stopping, fire door and compartmentation contractor is Lot 3. An assessor who does not install is Lot 4, and the notice is explicit that Lot 4 suppliers must be separate from installation and remedial work.
| Lot | Estimated value ex VAT | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Lot 1: The Supply of Fire Safety Products | £30m | Supply, installation, maintenance and testing of fire safety equipment: extinguishers (water, powder, gas, foam, wet chemical), extinguisher stands, fire blankets, buckets, hoses, foam equipment and nozzles, fire marshal kits, log books, signs, evacuation chairs, fire doors and shutters, and fire compliant storage for e-scooters and e-bikes. |
| Lot 2: Active Fire Protection | £48m | Sub-Lot 2a: design, supply, installation, commissioning, inspection, testing, servicing, maintenance, repair and replacement of fire detection and alarm systems (addressable and conventional), emergency lighting, fixed sprinklers, fixed suppression (gas, foam, water mist), control panels and devices, plus portable and temporary suppression for outages and interim compliance. Sub-Lot 2b: wildfire and outdoor suppression equipment. |
| Lot 3: Passive Fire Protection | £27m | Survey, design where applicable, supply, installation, inspection, maintenance, testing, certification and remediation of passive systems: fire stopping, cavity barriers and compartmentation surveys; fire doors, doorsets, ironmongery and fire rated glazing; intumescent coatings and structural protection; certified materials installed to tested systems with third party accreditation; inspection, certification and digital records. |
| Lot 4: Fire Risk Assessment and Consultancy | £15m | Type 1 to 4 fire risk assessments to PAS 79 or equivalent with action plans; fire door inspections, compartmentation surveys and compliance audits; fire strategies, design review and Building Safety Act advice; fire awareness and fire marshal training; reporting and audit trails. Independent assurance: separation from installation and remedial works to avoid conflicts of interest. |
Every lot is scored 60 percent quality, 30 percent price and 10 percent social value. Source: Find a Tender notice 2026/S 000-094259.
Lot 2b, wildfire and outdoor suppression equipment, sits inside Lot 2 and is a supply lot for pumps, beaters, hoses and sand rather than a services lot. Firms bidding Lot 2 for alarm and sprinkler work should read the sub-lot structure in the ITT before assuming one submission covers both.
Why direct award changes the value of a place
On most frameworks a place is a licence to compete in mini competitions. This one permits direct award: a customer can appoint a supplier without a further competition using only the scores submitted at framework award, choosing from five published methods including overall ranking, highest quality score, lowest price, highest score on a specific question, or a partial-service selection from the pricing schedule.
That means the quality score you submit in November is not just a pass mark. It is the ranking buyers will read for four years when deciding who to appoint without a competition. A firm that scrapes onto the framework and a firm that tops the ranking hold very different assets, and the difference is the written submission.
The rapid RFQ route is the one most likely to produce early call-offs for smaller suppliers: pass or fail essentials, then price. Being on the framework with a competitive rate card is what makes that work.
What scores on a 60 percent quality lot
The quality questions on frameworks of this kind are about delivery discipline: how a call-out is logged, dispatched, closed and reported; how engineer competence is evidenced per system type; how asset data and certificates are kept and shared with the customer; how continuity is maintained when an engineer leaves; how defects found on service visits are quoted and tracked. Answers that quote the current contract, with response times, first-time fix rates and client reporting examples, score. Answers that describe a process in the abstract do not.
Accreditation is a threshold, not a differentiator, but it is checked in the bidding legal entity. BAFE SP203-1 for alarm work, SP101 for extinguishers, FIRAS or IFC for passive fire, a recognised assessor register for Lot 4, and a SSIP scheme for all of them. A certificate in a previous company name is a compliance failure, and we have seen it found a week before a deadline.
Social value is 10 percent and is scored on commitments with an owner, a measure and a date: apprenticeships, local employment, carbon reduction in the fleet, community fire safety education. A paragraph of good intentions scores at the bottom of the band.
What has to happen between now and 5 November
Register on Delta eSourcing with access code H778QWF582 and download the ITT this week. Anything unclear about lot boundaries, the pricing schedule, the direct award methods or the conditions of participation has to be asked before 5pm on 22 October; questions after that are not answered.
Decide the lots in week one on the basis of certificates you hold today, not ones in application. Assemble the evidence in week two: insurances, accreditations, named engineers and their technician certificates, service reports and certificates from your field system, KPI data from current contracts, policies, RAMS and references. Write in week three, review against the published criteria in week four with time left to fix what the review finds, and upload at least two working days before 5pm on 5 November.
This framework is one of the live fire safety tenders on our register, which is refreshed weekly from Find a Tender.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Kent fire safety framework close?
5pm on Thursday 5 November 2026 on Delta eSourcing (access code H778QWF582), according to Find a Tender notice 2026/S 000-094259. Clarification questions close at 5pm on 22 October 2026.
Who can buy through the Kent Fire Safety Products and Associated Services framework?
Any contracting authority in the UK, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies existing on 6 October 2026: central government departments and agencies, local authorities, emergency services including police, fire, ambulance and coastguard, NHS and healthcare bodies, schools, academies, colleges and universities, housing associations and registered social landlords, national parks, hospices, charities and voluntary bodies. It is a national framework run from Kent, not a Kent-only one.
How is the Kent fire safety framework scored?
Every lot is 60 percent quality, 30 percent price and 10 percent social value. The published scores also drive direct award for the life of the framework, so the quality ranking matters after award as well as at it.
Can a small fire alarm or extinguisher company bid?
Yes. The lots are structured around single disciplines, the framework permits rapid RFQs where price decides among compliant suppliers, and the estimated values are spread across the whole UK public sector. A regional contractor with the right third party certification and clean evidence from its current contracts is exactly the supplier the lot structure was written for.
Does Lot 4 allow a company that also installs?
The notice requires independent assurance on Lot 4: separation from installation and remedial works to avoid conflicts of interest. A firm that both assesses and installs should read the ITT on how that separation is tested before bidding Lot 4, and may be better placed on Lot 3 with assessment as part of the passive fire service.
What is the framework term?
The estimated contract dates are 22 January 2027 to 21 January 2031, four years. It is an open framework under the Procurement Act 2023, so it may reopen to new suppliers during its term; the ITT sets out when.
Bidding the Kent fire safety framework?
Tell us which lots and which certifications you hold today. A director replies the same working day with whether the bid is winnable, which lots to bid and a fixed fee.
28 days to 5 November. Decide the lots this week.
Four lots, 60 percent quality, and a direct award ranking that lasts four years. Tell us what you deliver and which certificates you hold, and we will tell you which lots to bid and what it will take. Call 020 3668 5488.