National Oceanography Centre Seeks Financial Audit and Funding Assurance Services
Summary
The UK Government's Find a Tender service has published a notice regarding the National Oceanography Centre's intent to procure external financial audit and funding assurance services. The procurement is planned to support statutory, regulatory, and funder assurance obligations.
What changed
The National Oceanography Centre has issued a planning notice indicating its intention to procure external financial audit and funding assurance services. These services will support the Centre's statutory, regulatory, and funder assurance obligations, including the external audit of annual financial statements and assurance for externally funded programmes. The procurement may also involve related statutory or regulatory support activities.
This notice serves as early visibility and does not constitute a call for competition. Regulated entities interested in providing these services should monitor future procurement opportunities. The estimated contract dates are from May 31, 2026, to May 30, 2030, with a possible extension to May 30, 2031.
Source document (simplified)
Planning
External Financial Audit and Funding Assurance Services
- National Oceanography Centre UK3: Planned procurement notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types
Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-028792
Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-06772c
Published 28 March 2026, 9:21am
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Contents
Scope Participation Submission Procedure Contracting authority
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Reference
2026PRNOC-1083
Description
The National Oceanography Centre intends to procure external financial audit and funding assurance services to support its statutory, regulatory, and funder assurance obligations.
The requirement is expected to include the external audit of the National Oceanography Centre's annual financial statements, together with assurance and certification services in relation to externally funded programmes, grants, and research activities. Services may also include associated reporting, attendance at governance or audit committee meetings, and the provision of audit opinions and assurance reports in accordance with applicable accounting, audit, and regulatory standards.
The procurement may additionally include related statutory or regulatory support activities that are commonly delivered as part of an external audit engagement, such as assistance with financial filings to external regulators and funders, and support in relation to audit planning, risk assessment, and control‑based audit approaches.
This notice is published to provide early visibility of the National Oceanography Centre's intention to procure these services. It does not constitute a call for competition.
Contract dates (estimated)
- 31 May 2026 to 30 May 2030
- Possible extension to 30 May 2031
- 5 years
Description of possible extension:
The National Oceanography Centre may include extensions within the proposed contract to provide flexibility over the duration of services.
Options may include the ability to extend the contract term beyond the initial period, for example by one or more extension periods, to ensure continuity of statutory audit and assurance services across financial years.
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
The National Oceanography Centre may include options within the proposed contract to provide flexibility over scope, duration and delivery of services.
Optional services that can be called off where required, such as additional grant or programme assurance work, ad hoc assurance reporting for new or amended funding streams, or related statutory or regulatory support that is ancillary to the external financial audit and funding assurance services.
Any options would be exercised where there is an ongoing or emerging organisational, regulatory or funder requirement, where continuity of audit knowledge is required, or where it represents value for money and operational efficiency for the National Oceanography Centre.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
Compilation of financial statements services
Financial auditing services
Internal audit services
Statutory audit services
Accounting review services
Tax consultancy services
Tax-return preparation services
Contract locations
- UKJ32 - Southampton
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
The National Oceanography Centre intends to apply proportionate legal and financial capacity conditions of participation that are appropriate to the nature, scale and risk of the external financial audit and funding assurance services.
Conditions of participation may include requirements for bidders to confirm that they are legally constituted, professionally competent, and appropriately authorised to deliver external audit and assurance services in accordance with applicable professional, regulatory and ethical standards.
Bidders may be required to demonstrate financial standing and organisational capacity through proportionate means, such as declarations or summary financial information. The National Oceanography Centre does not intend to require the submission of audited accounts as a condition of participation.
The National Oceanography Centre does not intend to require bidders to hold or evidence specific levels of insurance prior to contract award. Any insurance requirements will be confirmed prior to contract commencement and set out in the procurement documents.
The final legal and financial capacity conditions will be specified in the procurement documents and applied in a manner consistent with the Procurement Act 2023.
Technical ability conditions of participation
The National Oceanography Centre intends to apply proportionate technical ability conditions of participation that are appropriate to the nature, complexity and regulatory requirements of external financial audit and funding assurance services.
Conditions of participation may include requirements for bidders to demonstrate relevant technical experience in delivering external financial audit and grant or programme assurance services to public sector, publicly funded, or comparable organisations.
Where reference is made to specific professional qualifications, standards, frameworks or regulatory requirements, the National Oceanography Centre will accept equivalent qualifications, standards or frameworks that demonstrate an equivalent level of technical competence, professional assurance and regulatory compliance.
Bidders may be required to demonstrate experience through proportionate evidence such as descriptions of relevant contracts, summaries of similar services delivered, and confirmation of access to suitably qualified and experienced personnel.
The final technical ability conditions of participation will be set out in the procurement documents and applied in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.
Particular suitability
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
17 April 2026
Enquiry deadline
30 April 2026, 12:00pm
Tender submission deadline
18 May 2026, 12:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
The National Oceanography Centre intends to conduct the procurement electronically.
Suppliers must be registered on the e‑tendering platform at:
Interested suppliers should ensure that they are fully registered on both the e‑tendering platform and the Central Digital Platform (CDP) in advance of the tender being published.
Once registered, suppliers who wish to be notified of the tender launch should email tenders@noc.ac.uk confirming their interest. Suppliers who have expressed interest in this way will be notified when the tender is launched.
Further instructions for submitting tenders will be provided in the procurement documents at the point of tender launch.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
27 May 2026
Recurring procurement
Publication date of next tender notice (estimated): 1 January 2031
Procedure type
Open procedure
National Oceanography Centre
- Companies House: 11444362
- Charity Commission (England and Wales): 1185265
- Scottish Charity Register: SC049896
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PYLV-3456-PMCQ National Oceanography Centre
Southampton
SO14 3ZH
United Kingdom
Contact name: George-Oliver Matthews
Telephone: +447718937503
Email: tenders@noc.ac.uk
Website: https://noc.ac.uk /
Region: UKJ32 - Southampton
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government
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