Official UK procurement notice
ACL Management Information System
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEssex Adult Community Learning (ACL) are seeking a comprehensive Management Information System tool to support the Council's ongoing ACL Transformation and Refresh programme.
Essex ACL is undertaking this Preliminary market engagement notice (PME) to engage with potential suppliers to understand market capability and available solutions to help develop to Essex ACL's identified requirements and inform the procurement strategy.
ACL is looking to understand more about the MIS tools that can provide the following outcomes:
- Enhance learner tracking and performance
- Adhere to DfE mandatory compliance checks and be auditable
- Real time updates to allow rapid inclusion of new learners
- Integrated reporting function built in to solution
- Options for current and future integration with other ACL tools i.e. Scheduling
- Up to date and user friendly interface for staff
- Option for self registration by learners
- Updated technology (current solution is 10 plus years old)
Contract Dates (Estimated):
The current contract expires 30th Sep 2027. We would require a period of parallel running to ensure quality so would look to ensuring at least 6 months overlap i.e. contract start of 30th March 2027. NB This would depend on Implementation length.
Ideally we would like a 3+1 contract length.
CPV: Information technology services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Essex County Council buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up
Essex County Council’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: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 East of 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 outside East of England.
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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 47 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?
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.
1 bid0% / 0%
2–320% / 45%
4–640% / 18%
7+40% / 36%
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 estimate38% / 30%
Within ±2%55% / 40%
Above estimate7% / 30%
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 7222Estimate not published
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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 11 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid0%
2–345%
4–618%
7+36%
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capita Business Services LtdEarlier contract | Education Information Management Systemnotice published Sept 2024 | — | — | 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.
75% 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.
75% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (75% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Education Information Management System — held by Capita Business Services Ltd; 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
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 21 May 2026, 13:34 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Jun 2026, 16:22 BST
- Authority reference
D002PA- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-057744- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069f2eFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
21 May 2026 → 30 Mar 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published153 days ago21 May 2026, 13:34 BST
- Latest notice published124 days ago18 Jun 2026, 16:22 BST
- Market engagement112 days ago30 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
Engagement Process Description:
Essex Adult Community Learning (ACL) is looking to procure a Management Information System and is undertaking this preliminary market engagement notice (PME) to inform and refine its procurement strategy. This exercise is designed to engage with potential suppliers to understand market capability and available solutions, to help develop ECC's requirements and shape the procurement strategy as well as identifying potential suppliers.
ACL are inviting interested suppliers that are capable of providing an MIS to complete a questionnaire via the following Microsoft forms link:
forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗
Responses are to be submitted by 30/06/2026. If you are having any issues with the link, please reach out via email.
Following review of responses, ACL may reach out to interested suppliers to organise demos or for further discussion. If demos are to be arranged, they will be held via teams or on site at County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1QH.
Please note this PME notice/request for information is not intended as a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any potential future tender opportunity. Responding to this PME does not constitute a tender submission, a quotation, or any binding commitment to procure these services. Please note there is no commitment or guarantee that procurement activity will go ahead.
Participation is voluntary and will neither benefit nor disadvantage any supplier in any potential future procurement opportunity. Responses to the questionnaire will be treated confidentially.
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 160 days30 Mar 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 21 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 May 2026, 13:34 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Jun 2026, 16:22 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
Date extended for submission to 30/06/2026
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