Soft Market Testing - Catering for STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway Swindon Borough Council is seeking input from the market for the provision of a service called 'Catering for STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway'.

This market assessment is not part of the procurement process, but is purely investigative in nature, to potentially assist the Council in defining a specification and contract for the services.

In preparation for this, it is our intention to undertake a Soft Market Testing (SMT) questionnaire to review the current supply market.

This advert relates to a proposed 'soft market testing' exercise only and is NOT a call for competition.

Any contracts for services or supplies relating to this exercise may be subject to separate procurement processes in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended).

All participants in this event shall be responsible for their own costs (including third party costs) and the Contracting Authority shall have no liability to any participant.

Swindon Borough Council is seeking to explore future options to undertake the events, corporate hospitality and café catering opportunities at STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon.

The council seek to engage with potential partners to fully understand their capabilities and appetite for the Museum's catering opportunity which will help formulate an attractive and sustainable catering offer that benefits both parties.

See attached presentation for more information about STEAM's facilities.

The purpose of this SMT questionnaire is to gain intelligence on the supply market for Swindon Borough Council's requirements, including information that will help define the most appropriate structure, plan and budget for any potential competitive procurement exercise.

The closing date for the return of the SMT questionnaire is 14:00hrs on Friday 5th August 2022.

For the avoidance of doubt, no information provided in response to this SMT questionnaire will be used by the Council in assessing providers during any future procurement process.