Sample memo · 2 September 2026 · Public notice only
Gutter Cleaning 2026 (Hull College)
Open Government Licence v3.0. Public data only. BidFit did not open the tender pack / portal ITT.
Disclaimer. This memo is informational. It is not legal advice, procurement advice, or bid-writing. It does not tell you to bid or not to bid as a substitute for reading the ITT, taking professional advice, or making your own commercial judgement. Figures, dates, company names and award values are those published on the cited public pages on 2 September 2026. If a page is updated after that, the page wins. Personal names and personal contact details on notices have been redacted. Public sector information is reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BidFit is not the buyer and has no inside information from In-Tend.
| Field | Published fact | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Notice title | Gutter Cleaning 2026 | Find a Tender notice |
| Notice type | UK4: Tender notice — Procurement Act 2023 | FTS notice |
| Notice identifier | 2026/S 000-076703 (FTS id 076703-2026) | FTS notice |
| OCID | ocds-h6vhtk-06e279 | OCDS release |
| Buyer reference | T/26/377/GROUP/EST | FTS notice |
| Buyer | Hull College | FTS notice |
| Buyer identifiers | UKPRN 10003200; PPON PHGX-4525-LYXX | FTS notice |
| Organisation type on notice | Public authority — sub-central government | FTS notice |
| Legal form (buyer site / GIAS) | Further education college run by a Corporation (Instrument & Articles of Government). GIAS: general FE college, URN 130579, status Open. Not a Companies House limited company on the pages opened for this memo. | Governance; GIAS 130579 |
| Notice URL | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076703-2026 | |
| Portal | Hull College In-Tend | in-tendhost.co.uk/hull-college |
| Status (OCDS) | active (tender) | OCDS API |
| Published | 12 August 2026, 12:12 BST | OCDS API (2026-08-12T12:12:42+01:00) |
| Enquiry deadline | 1 September 2026, 12:00 BST — passed as at this memo | FTS notice; OCDS enquiryPeriod.endDate |
| Tender deadline | 11 September 2026, 12:00 BST | FTS notice; OCDS tenderPeriod.endDate 2026-09-11T12:00:00+01:00 |
| Estimated value | £45,000 including VAT (amountGross 45000 GBP). No excluding-VAT figure published. Labelled “Total value (estimated)” against a three-year term. | FTS notice; OCDS API |
| Threshold | Below the relevant threshold (aboveThreshold: false) | FTS notice; OCDS API |
| Contract dates (estimated) | 1 October 2026 to 1 October 2029 (HTML: “3 years, 1 day”) | FTS notice |
| Main category | Works | FTS notice |
| CPV | 45261320 — Guttering work | FTS notice; official CPV wording also at Reg. (EC) 2195/2002 Annex IV (as substituted by 213/2008): 45261320-3 Guttering work |
| Procedure | Below threshold — open competition | FTS notice |
| Lots | One lot (id 1), status active | OCDS API |
| Framework / DPS? | Not described as a framework on the notice. Single tender, one lot. | FTS notice |
| Award criteria | QUALITY 50% · PRICE 50% | FTS notice |
| SME suitable | Yes | FTS notice; OCDS lots[0].suitability.sme: true |
| VCSE suitable | Yes | FTS notice; OCDS vcse: true |
| Electronic submission | Yes — “Tenders may be submitted electronically: Yes”; OCDS electronicSubmissionPolicy: allowed | FTS notice |
| Legal basis | Procurement Act 2023 | OCDS legalBasis.id 2023/54; ukpga/2023/54 |
| Buyer address on notice | Wilberfore Drive, Hull, HU1 3DG (spelling as published). College site and GIAS use Wilberforce Drive, same postcode. | FTS notice; location page; GIAS |
| Contract locations | UKE — Yorkshire and the Humber. Description: “all of its properties in Hull and Goole.” | FTS notice |
| On Contracts Finder? | Not found. Searches on 2 September 2026 for T/26/377/GROUP/EST and “Gutter Cleaning 2026” did not return this notice. The live source is Find a Tender. | CF POST /api/rest/2/search_notices/json |
| Contact on notice | Personal name and personal college email redacted. Bid via In-Tend. College public mailbox on the college site: info@hull-college.ac.uk (switchboard 01482 329943). | FTS notice; hull-college.ac.uk |
1. Verdict in 8 lines
- This is a below-threshold open competition for works, CPV guttering, estimated £45,000 including VAT, one lot, SME- and VCSE-flagged (notice).
- Geography on the notice is Hull and Goole. That matches the example profile. The college’s public location page currently names Hull campuses (Queen’s Gardens / Wilberforce Drive, and Cannon Street); the notice still says Goole. Price the pack’s site list, not the homepage (location page).
- The clock is short. Published 12 August 2026; deadline 11 September 2026, 12:00 BST — nine calendar days from this memo. That pulls the score down versus Bedford’s five weeks. It is not automatically No-go: a local gutter SME with height access and a portal account this week can still write a 50/50 quality-and-price bid.
- The published enquiry deadline was 1 September 2026, 12:00 BST and has passed. If the pack is incomplete, you may not get a clarification on the public timetable.
- The notice is thin. Title “Gutter Cleaning 2026”; description “minor maintenance provider to carry out a range of services”. Do not assume the ITT is gutters-only until you open it.
- Pass/fail insurance, turnover, DBS, accreditations, TUPE and social value are Unknown on the public notice. This memo does not invent them.
- No published gutter-cleaning incumbent was found. A 2025 building-cleaning award to Green Commercial Cleaning Limited is a different CPV and a different contract (section 4).
2. What this contract actually is (plain English)
Hull College has published a UK4 tender notice titled Gutter Cleaning 2026. The only CPV is 45261320 — Guttering work. The estimated value is £45,000 including VAT. The estimated term is 1 October 2026 to 1 October 2029 (the HTML says 3 years, 1 day) (notice; OCDS).
The description is one short paragraph, quoted in substance: the college “is seeking a cost effective and efficient minor maintenance provider to carry out a range of services all of its properties in Hull and Goole,” and tells suppliers to register on In-Tend to view the documents and submit an expression of interest (notice). That is the whole public specification. Frequencies, building list, access method, whether downpipes and hoppers are in, whether this is cleaning only or repair/replace, and whether “range of services” means more than gutters, all sit in the pack. BidFit has not opened the pack.
£45,000 including VAT against a three-year term is a modest total, not a large annual facilities number. The notice does not split the figure into year 1 / years 2–3, and it does not give an excluding-VAT amount. Price the bill of quantities in the ITT, not an invented annual rate.
Who the buyer is
The contracting authority on Find a Tender is Hull College, UKPRN 10003200, PPON PHGX-4525-LYXX, classified as a public authority — sub-central government (notice). Get Information about Schools records it as a general further education college, URN 130579, status Open, address Queen’s Gardens, Wilberforce Drive, Kingston-upon-Hull HU1 3DG, principal named on that page (not repeated here) (GIAS). The college’s governance page describes a Corporation (governing body) whose legal constitution is the Instrument and Articles of Government, and it publishes reports and financial statements in the Corporation’s name (governance). Find that Charity, using the same UKPRN, states the organisation is not registered as a charity on the sources it displays; FE corporations are a different legal form from a Companies House limited company (findthatcharity UKPRN 10003200). No buyer Ltd company number appears on the notice. This memo did not treat a subsidiary as the contracting authority.
The college’s location page gives the sat-nav address as Hull College, Wilberforce Drive, Hull, HU1 3DG (Queen’s Gardens campus) and also names a Cannon Street campus (what3words only on that page) (location page). The notice still says properties in Hull and Goole. The public website, as fetched on 2 September 2026, does not publish a current Goole campus street address. That is a pack question, not a reason to ignore Goole.
How you bid
Below-threshold open competition. Submit on the Hull College In-Tend portal. The notice says: visit and register to view the tender documents and submit an expression of interest, and “Please submit your tender documents on the In-Tend portal” (notice; portal). Personal names and personal emails on the notice are redacted here. Use the portal, not a personal inbox. The portal home page, as retrieved, also refers to a planned maintenance period and gives a non-personal support mailbox support@in-tend.co.uk. The published deadline is noon on 11 September 2026 — do not plan to file in the evening.
What it is not
- It is not the college’s specialist / building-cleaning contract (CPV 90910000, awarded December 2025 — section 4). Same “Hull and Goole” boilerplate; different CPV, different reference, different supplier.
- It is not described as a framework or DPS on this notice.
- It is not on Contracts Finder as at 2 September 2026 (search method in section 4). The live public notice is Find a Tender.
- It is not a specified method-statement. Height access, MEWP, ladders, roof walking, and occupied-site rules are pack items.
3. Mandatory pass/fail table vs published requirements
Mark Unknown where the Find a Tender notice is silent. Do not treat “typical for this sector” as a published requirement. This notice is thin; most selection gates will be in the In-Tend pack if they exist at all.
| Requirement | What the public notice actually says | Pass / Fail / Unknown | What to check in the pack |
|---|---|---|---|
| SME suitability | Particular suitability: SME (and VCSE) | Pass (flag only) — buyer flags, not a reserved contract | Still open to non-SMEs unless the ITT says otherwise (notice) |
| VCSE suitability | Yes | Flag only | |
| Coverage — Hull and Goole | “all of its properties in Hull and Goole” | Pass/fail on coverage for the example profile (already covers both) | Site list; whether Goole is one building or several (notice) |
| Works / guttering | Main category Works; CPV 45261320 Guttering work; title Gutter Cleaning 2026 | Pass if you actually do this work | Whether “range of services” / “minor maintenance” expands the CPV (notice) |
| Single lot | One active lot | Not split | You cover the estate, not a Hull-only slice |
| Framework membership | Not described as a framework | Not required (on FTS) | Confirm ITT does not sneak a CPC / YPO call-off rule |
| Turnover | Silent | Unknown | Selection questionnaire |
| Employer’s liability / PL / height / contract works insurance | Silent | Unknown | Do not guess limits |
| Working-at-height / IPAF / PASMA / ladder register | Silent | Unknown | Method statements; occupied teaching space |
| DBS / safeguarding | Silent | Unknown | Education sites often ask; this notice does not |
| CHAS / SSIP / ISO | Silent | Unknown | |
| Living Wage | Silent | Unknown | |
| Social value weighting | Silent (award criteria are 50/50 quality/price only) | Unknown as a separate scored heading | Whether “quality” includes social value (notice) |
| TUPE | Silent | Unknown | ITT / incumbent schedule — none named on FTS |
| Site visit | Silent | Unknown | Clarification log — enquiry window already closed |
| Electronic submission via In-Tend | Yes | Pass/fail on portal use | Register now (portal) |
| Enquiry deadline | 1 September 2026, 12:00 BST | Passed as at 2 September 2026 | Do not assume late questions will be answered |
| Tender deadline | 11 September 2026, 12:00 BST | Pass if submitted on portal time | Portal clock, not your watch (OCDS) |
Read this table as: the public notice is enough to decide “this is our geography and our kind of work”, not enough to complete a selection questionnaire. Anyone selling a memo that invents a PI limit or a turnover multiple from “industry norms” is guessing. This memo does not.
4. Incumbent / last award
Gutter cleaning — not found in public award data
Searched on 2 September 2026. No supplier name, no award value, and no prior gutter notice for this buyer was found. Do not invent an incumbent.
Method:
- Find a Tender HTML and OCDS for
076703-2026/ OCIDocds-h6vhtk-06e279— tagtender, noawardsarray (OCDS API; OCDS record). - Contracts Finder v2
POST /api/rest/2/search_notices/jsonfor keywordT/26/377/GROUP/EST— no Hull College hit. Same API for keyword “Gutter Cleaning 2026” — this notice did not appear; the hits were other buyers’ cleaning / gutter jobs (API docs). - Same API for
T/25/351/GROUP/EST— returned the college’s cleaning services notices (below), not guttering. - Keyword searches mixing Hull College with window cleaning / CPV 45261320 did not surface a Hull College gutter or window-cleaning award. CF’s keyword parser is noisy (it matches “Hull” in unrelated titles); where organisation was clearly not Hull College, those hits are discarded.
A bidder should still: open the In-Tend pack for any TUPE / “current contractor” schedule; raise a portal clarification if the buyer will still take one after the published enquiry date; and, after award, watch for a UK6 award notice on Find a Tender.
Related, but different: specialist / building cleaning (do not treat as this incumbent)
On 16 December 2025 Hull College published a UK6 award notice titled Specialist Cleaning Services, reference T/25/351/GROUP/EST, OCID ocds-h6vhtk-056887, CPV 90910000 — Cleaning services. The description uses the same Hull-and-Goole sentence pattern as the gutter notice, but the CPV and the title are cleaning, not guttering (award notice).
| Award field | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier | GREEN COMMERCIAL CLEANING LIMITED | FTS award |
| Companies House | 03103771 | FTS award; Companies House |
| FTS contract value | £190,000 including VAT | FTS award; OCDS amountGross 190000 |
| Contracts Finder awarded value | £180,000 (GUID 428df954-82be-4844-b17d-f1b6c03e23ba) | CF API — these two published figures differ; this memo does not pick a “true” number |
| FTS award-decision date as printed | 15 December 2005 (alongside 2025 contract dates — treat as a published data error, not a 2005 award) | FTS award |
| CF awarded date | 15 December 2025 | CF API |
| Contract dates (FTS) | 19 December 2025 to 31 July 2028 | FTS award |
| Tenders received | 14, all SME; 1 awarded; 0 VCSE | FTS award |
| Procedure | Below threshold — open competition | FTS award |
| Supplier SME flag | Yes | FTS award |
| Supplier address | Premier House, 16 Henry Boot Way, Hull, HU4 7DY | FTS award; CH |
| Parent CF tender | GUID 383b6c42-6975-4f3f-a3fc-7c87c9b150ec; published 30 July 2025, 08:00 BST; deadline 26 September 2025, 12:00 BST; estimated value £190,000; SME suitable yes; not a framework; status Closed; awards: [] on the parent (award sits on the child notice) | CF API |
Companies House snapshot — GREEN COMMERCIAL CLEANING LIMITED (03103771) (CH): Status Active; private limited company; incorporated 19 September 1995; registered office Premier House, 16 Henry Boot Way, Priory Park East, Hull, East Yorkshire HU4 7DY; SIC 81299 — Other cleaning services; previous name Ben Green and Associates Limited (19 Sep 1995 – 15 Apr 2014); last accounts made up to 30 November 2025. Turnover not stated on the CH overview page — omitted. Personal emails on the award notice are redacted here.
This is the college’s internal / specialist cleaning supplier on a term running to 31 July 2028. Gutter cleaning is a separate CPV and a separate 2026 tender. Green Commercial may or may not also empty gutters; public award data does not say so. The pattern that is worth something: this buyer lets below-threshold, In-Tend, SME-flagged work, and a Hull SME did win the cleaning lot. That is not a named winner of T/26/377/GROUP/EST.
5. Traps that are on the notice (from published text only)
- Clock. Deadline 11 September 2026, 12:00 BST; published 12 August 2026, 12:12 BST (OCDS). From 2 September that is nine calendar days and seven working days including today. A 50/50 quality submission still needs a method statement. It is tight, not St Helier (two working days, live hospital LV).
- Enquiry window closed. 1 September 2026, 12:00 BST (notice). If the pack’s site list, access notes or pricing schedule are incomplete, you may be bidding blind.
- Title versus description. Title: gutter cleaning. Description: “minor maintenance provider” and “a range of services”. CPV: guttering work only. If the pack is a general minor-works term, a specialist gutter cleaner can fail on scope; if the pack is gutters only, a general maintainer will over-price. Open the documents before you decide which firm you are.
- £45,000 including VAT over three years. The HTML calls it “Total value (estimated)” (notice). If you treat £45,000 as a one-year budget you will look expensive; if the pack is actually an annual sum, you will underbid. There is no excluding-VAT figure. VAT treatment of construction vs cleaning is a pack/commercial question — not guessed here.
- Works, not services. Main category is Works (notice). CDM, principal-contractor language, and construction insurance sometimes follow a works label. None of that is on the notice. Unknown.
- All properties, one lot. Hull and Goole, not a Hull-only slice. The public college site currently describes Hull campuses; the notice still names Goole. Travel time to Goole from Hull is the job if the pack keeps it.
- Quality 50%. This is not a price-only quote. A local firm that dumps a day-rate with no method, photos of similar education roofs, or a holiday-window plan will lose to a thinner price with a cleaner quality paper.
- Portal, not email. Personal contacts on the notice are redacted for a reason: submissions that miss In-Tend will not count (notice). Register this week; the example profile assumes you can.
- Occupied education sites. Not a scored item on FTS. The buyer is an FE college with a city-centre Queen’s Gardens campus (location page). Method statements that ignore term-time access will look amateur even if DBS is not on the notice.
- Same boilerplate as last year’s cleaning tender. The 2025 cleaning description is almost the same sentence with “cleaning services provider” swapped in (award notice). Do not copy a building-cleaning bid into a gutter CPV, and do not assume the same evaluation team wants the same product.
Social value — what is not on this notice
The Find a Tender notice does not publish a social-value weighting, a net-zero clause, an apprenticeship KPI, or a local-labour percentage. Award criteria on the notice are quality 50% and price 50% only. Unknown whether quality includes social value. Do not write a community essay the scoring matrix does not buy. A local Hull / Goole operator can say so in a short quality answer if the pack asks; that is not a published requirement.
6. What would have to be true to flip the verdict
Go → No-go if any of these is true in the pack:
- Mandatory turnover, insurance or accreditation you cannot meet (figures not published on FTS — check before pricing).
- “Range of services” is a full minor-maintenance / reactive-trades term you do not resource (multi-trade, 24-hour call-out, fabric repairs beyond rainwater goods).
- A named framework you are not on. FTS does not describe this as a framework (notice).
- Specialist access (abseil / rope / live-highway MEWP) you cannot resource, once the building list is visible.
- TUPE of a team you cannot cost in nine days.
- You cannot register on In-Tend and file by 11 September 2026, 12:00 BST.
- The pack is incomplete and the buyer will not answer questions after the 1 September enquiry deadline.
Go → stronger Go if:
- You already empty gutters on education or similar occupied sites in Hull and Goole and can name Queen’s Gardens / Cannon Street (and any Goole address in the pack) in the method statement (location page).
- The pack is gutters, hoppers and downpipes on a simple frequency, not a multi-trade term.
- You can submit a site-by-site rate card that matches the pack, with a short 50% quality paper, this week.
No-go from the start if: you are a building-cleaning firm treating this as a bolt-on; you have no height-access regime; you are outside the Humber and would be buying travel into a £45k-inc-VAT three-year pot; or you cannot stand up In-Tend before Friday week.
7. Source list (URLs)
- Live notice (HTML): https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076703-2026
- Live notice (OCDS API): https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/api/1.0/ocdsReleasePackages/076703-2026
- OCDS release package (notice path): https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076703-2026/OCDS/ReleasePackage
- OCDS record: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076703-2026/OCDS/Record
- FTS API docs: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/apidocumentation/1.0/GET-ocdsReleasePackages
- Contracts Finder search API: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/api/rest/2/search_notices/json — docs https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/apidocumentation/Notices/2/POST-rest-searches-search
- In-Tend portal: https://www.in-tendhost.co.uk/hull-college/aspx/Home
- Related cleaning award (not this contract): https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/083132-2025 and OCDS https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/api/1.0/ocdsReleasePackages/083132-2025
- Related cleaning award (CF JSON): https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/api/rest/2/get_published_notice/json/428df954-82be-4844-b17d-f1b6c03e23ba
- Related cleaning tender (CF JSON): https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/api/rest/2/get_published_notice/json/383b6c42-6975-4f3f-a3fc-7c87c9b150ec
- Green Commercial CH: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03103771
- Buyer site: https://www.hull-college.ac.uk/
- Buyer governance: https://www.hull-college.ac.uk/policies-and-governance/governance/
- Buyer location / campuses: https://www.hull-college.ac.uk/students/campus-facilities/location-and-travel-information/
- GIAS establishment 130579: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/130579
- Find that Charity (UKPRN 10003200): https://findthatcharity.uk/orgid/GB-UKPRN-10003200
- CPV official wording: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2002/2195/annex/IV (45261320-3 Guttering work)
- Procurement Act 2023: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- OGL v3.0: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
8. Disclaimer
This memo is informational. It is not legal advice, procurement advice, or bid-writing. It does not tell you to bid or not to bid as a substitute for reading the ITT, taking professional advice, or making your own commercial judgement. Figures, dates, company names and award values are those published on the cited public pages on 2 September 2026. If a page is updated after that, the page wins. Where Find a Tender is silent (insurance, turnover, named accreditations, DBS, TUPE, social-value weight, site visit), this memo says Unknown and does not guess. Personal names and personal contact details on notices have been redacted. Public sector information is reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BidFit is not the buyer and has no inside information from In-Tend.