Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 30 Jan 2026, 12:25 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

AI tools that assess and triage skin lesions for urgent skin cancer referrals

Authority: NHS England (Central government)

GoodsAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£1pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 31 Mar 2028 · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Preliminary market consultation to inform the NHS commercial strategy for AI tools that assess and triage skin lesions for urgent skin cancer referrals. Please note all stated financial values in relation to this notice are nominal, as the financial envelope is yet to be defined. Projected contracting dates in the notice, similarly do not reflect any plans as these are yet to be defined. To express interest, review and respond to the request for information questionnaire please register and apply via Atamis e-sourcing portal using the following link. atamis-1928.my.site.com/s/Welcome ↗ select live opportunities, navigate to the project titled: "AI tools that assess and triage skin lesions for urgent skin‑cancer referrals" (ref 419845) and follow the instructions to download, complete and upload your response to the questionnaire.

CPV: Dermatology services · Imaging equipment for medical, dental and veterinary use · Medical equipments · Medical imaging services · Medical software package

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How NHS England buys Medical practice and related services (CPV 8512), and who usually turns up

NHS England’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: Medical practice and related services (CPV 8512) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNHS England · division 85
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: 286 of 926 known-size awards · market: CPV 8512 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=86
31%47%

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 Greater London (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 543 of 649 known-location awards · market: CPV 8512 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=144
84%76%

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: 10 decided notices · market: CPV 8512 · UK-wide, n=21
24 days51 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 24 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 274 of 421 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8512 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=155
65%85%

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 buyer170 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
26% had one bid
The market29 lots with bid counts · CPV 8512 · Greater London (authority’s region)
17% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid26% / 17%
Buyer: 45 of 170 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 29 lots with published bid counts.
2–341% / 10%
Buyer: 70 of 170 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 29 lots with published bid counts.
4–615% / 31%
Buyer: 26 of 170 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 29 lots with published bid counts.
7+17% / 41%
Buyer: 29 of 170 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 29 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 buyer106 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
37% below estimate
The market15 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8512 · Greater London (authority’s region)
13% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate37% / 13%
Buyer: 39 of 106 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%52% / 80%
Buyer: 55 of 106 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 12 of 15 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate11% / 7%
Buyer: 12 of 106 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 15 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 851212 monthsSME suitableNo real estimate
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 29 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet17% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 29 similar lots
1 bid17%
5 of 29 similar past lots received 1 bid (17%).
2–310%
3 of 29 similar past lots received 2–3 (10%).
4–631%
9 of 29 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+41%
12 of 29 similar past lots received 7+ (41%).
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 real estimate
The buyer published £1 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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
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
30 Jan 2026, 12:25 GMT
Last source update
30 Jan 2026, 13:37 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-008481
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Dermatology servicesImaging equipment for medical, dental and veterinary useMedical equipmentsMedical imaging servicesMedical software package
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0612e4 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

30 Jan 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published269 days ago
    30 Jan 2026, 12:25 GMT
  2. Market engagement241 days ago
    27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Preliminary Market Consultation regarding AI tools that assess and triage skin lesions for urgent skin‑cancer referrals

  3. Today
    26 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 67 days
    1 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 156 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

4 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 30 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Jan 2026, 12:25 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Jan 2026, 13:33 GMT
    UK2
  3. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Jan 2026, 13:36 GMT
    UK2
  4. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Jan 2026, 13:37 GMT
    UK2
Published amendments (3)

Corrected terminology

removed dash symbol as it didnt come right on FTS

removed dash as it didnt appear correct on FTS

Routine re-releases (4)
  • 2026-01: 1 release · 30 Jan 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

NHS England

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDPT-3135-BWWY Wellington House, 133-135 Waterloo Rd, London, London, SE1 8UGContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (4)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure