Official UK procurement notice
Access & Identity Management System (AIMS)
Authority: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNICE is holding a virtual supplier event about its Access and Identity Management System (AIMS) on April 16th 2026, 11:30am to 1pm as part of procurement activities for a new 3-year contract (plus 2 x 12-month).
This system provides secure authentication and authorisation for eligible NHS and wider health and social care staff seeking who want to digital knowledge resources purchased by national, regional and local health organisations.
AIMS comprises two interdependent components delivered as a single, integrated service:
(1) an Identity Provider (IdP) service, which isan “identify management” capability to manage user identification and authentication; and
(2) a Federated Access Management service, which is a “publisher federation” capability to manage integration with publisher platforms and ensures users receive the correct access rights. Maintaining this integration is essential to guarantee continuity of access to evidence for the healthcare workforce and to uphold contractual obligations with publishers.
At the event, NICE will describe the draft service requirements and hold a question-and-answer session. NICE will highlight the importance of the federation and federated access elements of the service that is used by content providers.
The event will be an opportunity for NICE to gather feedback from suppliers about specific aspects of the proposed service and for suppliers to ask questions about and to better understand the service requirements.
The draft timeline for the procurement is: ITT publication in June 2026, contract award in September 2026 and service start in May 2027.
The provided specification is subject to change in response to feedback from the event.
To express interest and participate in this supplier event, please register and apply via Atamis e-sourcing portal atamis-1928.my.site.com/s/Welcome ↗
To find this opportunity in the e-sourcing portal, select "Find Opportunities" and then search by project C429620 or title. Once you have found the Opportunity, press the 'Register Interest' button to register your interest. This will make the project to appear on 'My proposals and quotes'. From there you can review documents, send clarification messages, submit the response, or decline to respond, if you decide not to participate in the opportunity.
Should suppliers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, please contact Atamis Helpdesk at:
Phone: +448000988201
E-mail: [email protected]
CPV: Data management services · Technical services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How National Institute for Health and Care Excellence buys Database services (CPV 7232), and who usually turns up
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Database services (CPV 7232) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in North West England (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West England.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 35 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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?
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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.
1 bid8%
2–333%
4–638%
7+21%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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.
Below estimate58%
Within ±2%21%
Above estimate21%
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.
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 7232Published estimate£825k
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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 75 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–331%
4–621%
7+39%
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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.
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.
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JiscEarlier contract | Access and Identity management systemnotice published Jun 2022 | — | £825k | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
83% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
83% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (83% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Access and Identity management system — held by Jisc; no contract end date published.
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
- 24 Mar 2026, 10:08 GMT
- Last source update
- 24 Mar 2026, 13:18 GMT
- Authority reference
C429620- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-026806- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067251Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
24 Mar 2026 → 1 May 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published212 days ago24 Mar 2026, 10:08 GMT
- Market engagement189 days ago16 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
Supplier engagement event
- Tender notice expected143 days ago1 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 190 days1 May 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 24 Mar 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Mar 2026, 10:08 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Mar 2026, 13:18 GMTUK2
Published amendments (1)
Additional information regarding timing for the Supplier event.
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
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender