Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Aug 2026, 11:07 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Apprenticeship Learner Management System

Authority: DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (Central government)

Framework agreementServicesSME suitable
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£300,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Framework period 3 yrsends 29 Jan 2030 · up to 29 Jan 2031 with extensions · starts 30 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are undertaking preliminary market engagement to understand the capabilities of the market for an Apprenticeship Learner Management System.

The Authorities are seeking information from suppliers able to provide a solution to support the end-to-end management of apprenticeship activity, including apprentice enrolment, provider management, learner tracking, performance monitoring, levy spend management, reporting, analytics, and apprenticeship completion and progression activities.

The proposed solution would support approximately 1,800 active apprentices across both organisations, with anticipated growth to between 5,000 and 6,000 learners during the contract period, and provide effective oversight of apprenticeship providers, learner progress, and management information requirements.

This engagement is being conducted through a Request for Information (RFI) and is intended solely to inform the Authorities' understanding of market capabilities, potential delivery approaches, commercial models, and procurement strategy. To access the RFI document and to submit clarification questions, please email [email protected]

CPV: Information technology services

How this framework works

From the published notice
Framework period
3 yrs · up to 4 yrs from 30 Jan 2027

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSME
Contract period: 30 Jan 2027 – 29 Jan 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 29 Jan 2031 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
What this means for your bid
  • “Apprenticeship Learner Management System” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

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

How DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bidWhat 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: 0 of 1 known-size awards · market: CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=6
0 of 117%

No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.

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.

Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 1 known-location awards · market: CPV 7222 · UK-wide, n=41
1 of 117%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 21 decided notices · market: CPV 7222 · UK-wide, n=10
39 days136 days

Half of these awards were announced within 39 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.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 1 of 1 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=8
1 of 163%

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 buyer18 lots with bid counts · all categories
56% had one bid
The market10 lots with bid counts · CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region)
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid56% / 0%
Buyer: 10 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
2–339% / 20%
Buyer: 7 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
4–66% / 10%
Buyer: 1 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 70%
Buyer: 0 of 18 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 10 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.

On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.

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 722236 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£300k
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 10 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet0% single-bid risk
Past bids on 10 similar lots
1 bid0%
0 of 10 similar past lots received 1 bid (0%).
2–320%
2 of 10 similar past lots received 2–3 (20%).
4–610%
1 of 10 similar past lots received 4–6 (10%).
7+70%
7 of 10 similar past lots received 7+ (70%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 13.5 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.

—Priced at call-off
On a framework or DPS the price is agreed on each call-off, so there is no award price to forecast here: the published figure is a ceiling.

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
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
6 Aug 2026, 11:07 BST
Last source update
6 Aug 2026, 11:07 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-074588
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Information technology services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06dd67 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Appointment period ends
—

Timeline

6 Aug 2026 → 30 Jan 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published76 days ago
    6 Aug 2026, 11:07 BST
  2. Market engagement55 days ago
    26 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST

    The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are undertaking preliminary market engagement to understand the capabilities of the market for an Apprenticeship Learner Management System.

    The Authorities are seeking information from suppliers able to provide a solution to support the end-to-end management of apprenticeship activity, including apprentice enrolment, provider management, learner tracking, performance monitoring, levy spend management, reporting, analytics, and apprenticeship completion and progression activities.

    The proposed solution would support approximately 1,800 active apprentices across both organisations, with anticipated growth to between 5,000 and 6,000 learners during the contract period, and provide effective oversight of apprenticeship providers, learner progress, and management information requirements.

    This engagement is being conducted through a Request for Information (RFI) and is intended solely to inform the Authorities' understanding of market capabilities, potential delivery approaches, commercial models, and procurement strategy. To access the RFI document and to submit clarification questions, please email [email protected]

  3. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 101 days
    30 Jan 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Aug 2026, 11:07 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

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PNBD-3289-CDGX Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, London, SW1P 4DFContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure