Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 2 Mar 2026, 11:26 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

002653 Tender for British Library Future Web Programme

Authority: British Library Board (Central government)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£5,090,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 3 Mar 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrs 6 moends 25 Dec 2028 · up to 25 Dec 2030 with extensions · starts 25 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The British Library will imminently be seeking suppliers for our Future Web Programme. The programme seeks to implement a blended model product team comprised of British Library staff and supplier developers/engineers and strategists working in two agile teams. This digital product team will focus on delivery of our web roadmap for the next 2.5 years for our website and web products, iterating on a new website launched in July 2025.

CPV: Content management software package · Internet and intranet software development services · Web page editing software development services · World wide web (www) site design services · World wide web (www) site operation host services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How British Library Board buys Provider services (CPV 7241), and who usually turns up

British Library Board’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Provider services (CPV 7241) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerBritish Library Board · division 72
The marketProvider services (CPV 7241) · UK-wide
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

How often small and medium firms win.

Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 of 15 known-size awards · market: CPV 7241 · UK-wide, n=82
67%67%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 4 of 5 known-location awards · market: CPV 7241 · UK-wide, n=58
80%43%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 decided notices · market: CPV 7241 · UK-wide, n=20
84 days70 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 84 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 8 of 27 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7241 · UK-wide, n=129
30%47%

Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.

How many bids did past lots attract?

i

How many bids past lots received.

Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.

Past bids do not predict this tender.

Last 36 months.

This buyer5 lots with bid counts · all categories
0% had one bid
The market35 lots with bid counts · CPV 7241 · UK-wide
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 14%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
2–360% / 37%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
4–640% / 9%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 35 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 40%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 35 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i

Where winning prices landed against estimates.

Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer7 lots with estimate and award · all categories
43% below estimate
The market24 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7241 · UK-wide
71% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate43% / 71%
Buyer: 3 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 17 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%57% / 29%
Buyer: 4 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

What past awards tell you about each lot.

See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.

No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 722130 monthsPublished estimate£5.1m

This lot is listed as CPV 7221. The table above uses the notice category.

Expected competition
i

How many bids this lot may attract.

The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.

Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 81 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet4% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 81 similar lots
1 bid4%
3 of 81 similar past lots received 1 bid (4%).
2–333%
27 of 81 similar past lots received 2–3 (33%).
4–633%
27 of 81 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+30%
24 of 81 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the award price may land.

The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £5.1m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

A past supplier may not bid again.

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Who could compete for this lot?

Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.

None is confirmed as a bidder.

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
  • Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
  • Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
  • Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
2 Mar 2026, 11:26 GMT
Last source update
2 Mar 2026, 11:26 GMT
Authority reference
002653
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-018349
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Content management software packageInternet and intranet software development servicesWeb page editing software development servicesWorld wide web (www) site design servicesWorld wide web (www) site operation host services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065f57 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

2 Mar 2026 → 25 Jun 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published235 days ago
    2 Mar 2026, 11:26 GMT
  2. Tender notice expected233 days ago
    3 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
  3. Contract starts120 days ago
    25 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Mar 2026, 11:26 GMT
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

British Library

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PCXZ-9362-XQJM British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, London, NW1 2DBContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure