Official UK procurement notice
AI Foundation and Digital Front Door Services
Authority: Torfaen County Borough Council (Local council)·Consortium: 5 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSRS partner services face sustained pressure from rising demand, increasing complexity, workforce constraints and growing expectations for digital access. Many core processes remain manual, fragmented, or duplicated, reducing productivity, increasing risk and limiting staff capacity for higher-value work.Partners are currently responding independently, trialling small-scale automation or using free AI tools without integration or consistent oversight. This creates duplication, uneven progress and avoidable risk.The proposed investment provides a shared AI Management Hub as a common foundation, enabling AI to be integrated safely into systems, data and workflows across all partners. It supports governance, service resilience and value for money through a single coordinated approach.Year one will deliver the shared AI Foundation, including a secure AI Management Hub integrated with existing systems and data, core AI tools for staff, a controlled replacement for ungoverned free AI tools, and the initial Digital Front Door capability for AI-assisted handling of citizen enquiries.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 19 Jun 2026, 08:42 BST
- Last source update
- 23 Jun 2026, 10:08 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-058798- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06b897Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
- Published justification
The SRS and its partner authorities operate a shared cloud environment based on AWS, which underpins critical services, cross-partner integration, and existing digital programmes. This environment includes established architecture, security design, network connectivity (including direct cloud connections), and interdependent systems across multiple organisations.
Due to this existing architecture, the requirement cannot be met by an alternative supplier without fundamental redesign of the platform and associated services.
Transition to an alternative provider would introduce disproportionate technical and operational difficulties, including:
- Re-engineering of existing applications, integrations, and automation pipelines
- Reconfiguration of network connectivity and security controls
- Risk to live service continuity across multiple authorities
- Disruption to shared data and interoperability arrangements
- Duplication of infrastructure during migration, increasing cost and cyber risk
These impacts go beyond normal commercial switching considerations and represent a material technical barrier to competition, meaning there is no reasonable alternative capable of delivering the requirement without unacceptable disruption.
- Risks
N/A
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
23 Jun 2026 → 2 Jul 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published126 days ago23 Jun 2026, 10:08 BST
- Standstill ends116 days ago2 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 Jun 2026- Transparency notice published19 Jun 2026, 08:42 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published23 Jun 2026, 10:08 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected3 Jul 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL, UK Branch3 Jul 2026 – 2 Jul 2027 | £1,272,000 | 19 Jun 2026standstill to 2 Jul 2026 | Standstill |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
5 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Blaenau Gwent County Borough CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply
- Monmouthshire County CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply
- Newport City CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply
- the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner GwentContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Amazon Web ServicesAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender