Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Jul 2026, 15:47 BST

Official UK procurement notice

002749 - Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for Business Durham Business Support Intelligence Platform (BSIP)

Authority: Durham County Council (Local council)

GoodsBelow threshold
Planned pipeline value£120,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Jul 2030 · up to 31 Jul 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Aug 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Business Durham aims to procure a provider who can design and implement an information system that will meet Business Durham's data requirements now and for the future. The project brief has been designed by a working group with representation from the four pillars of Business Durham plus marketing, business services and leadership teams. Each representative has provided an overview of their needs, in terms of inputting client/business data, reporting and analysis.

Full system requirements can be accessed in the PME documents.

This opportunity forms part of our preliminary market engagement, offering you the opportunity to share feedback and comments before the opportunity is released for formal tender submissions.

Interested providers can access the written response questions, free of charge, by registering on the Open Portal at www.open-uk.org ↗

The deadline for completed responses is Tuesday 21st July at 12 noon.

CPV: Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrs
Contract period: 1 Aug 2027 – 31 Jul 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 31 Jul 2032 with extensions
Delivery: North East
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Durham County Council buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up

Durham County Council’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: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerDurham County Council · division 48
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: 4 of 9 known-size awards · market: division 48 · North East England, n=362
44%32%

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. The market figure counts awards delivered in North East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 15 known-location awards · market: division 48 · North East England, n=492
7%5%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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: division 48 · North East England, n=27
42 days42 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 42 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 12 of 19 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 48 · North East England, n=574
63%68%

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 buyer6 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 48
17% had one bid
The market37 lots with bid counts · division 48 · North East England
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid17% / 14%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
2–367% / 38%
Buyer: 4 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
4–617% / 35%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 14%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 37 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 buyer31 lots with estimate and award · all categories
29% below estimate
The market24 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · North East England
67% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate29% / 67%
Buyer: 9 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 16 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%55% / 13%
Buyer: 17 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16% / 21%
Buyer: 5 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 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 4836 monthsPublished estimate£120k

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 48. The comparison uses that group.

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 37 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 37 similar lots
1 bid14%
5 of 37 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–338%
14 of 37 similar past lots received 2–3 (38%).
4–635%
13 of 37 similar past lots received 4–6 (35%).
7+14%
5 of 37 similar past lots received 7+ (14%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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 £120k, 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
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
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
6 Jul 2026, 15:47 BST
Last source update
6 Jul 2026, 15:47 BST
Authority reference
OPEN20261533
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-063291
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Software package and information systems
Delivery area
North East (UKC14)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c481 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

6 Jul 2026 → 1 Aug 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published115 days ago
    6 Jul 2026, 15:47 BST
  2. Market engagement99 days ago
    21 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    This notice forms part of our preliminary market engagement, offering you the opportunity to share feedback and comments before the opportunity is released for formal tender submissions.

    Interested providers can access the written response questions, free of charge, by registering on the Open Portal at www.open-uk.org ↗

    The deadline for completed responses is Tuesday 21st July at 12 noon.

  3. Today
    29 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 275 days
    1 Aug 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Jul 2026, 15:47 BST
    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

Durham County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PMPB-8772-VYWM Corten House, Dunholme Close, Durham, North East, DH1 5WBContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure