Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 12 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transformation Partner

Authority: Gateshead Borough Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£5,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 31 May 2031 · starts 1 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Gateshead Council is scoping requirements and looking for expressions of interest from suppliers for a multi year contract for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transformation Partner.

This partner would work with the Council to provide innovative opportunities for applying AI in the daily operations of the Council to deliver savings, reduce costs and improve services to residents.

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Gateshead Borough Council buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up

Gateshead Borough 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: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerGateshead Borough Council · division 48
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: 6 of 12 known-size awards · market: division 48 · North East England, n=353
50%33%

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.

Here, local means registered in North East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 14 known-location awards · market: division 48 · North East England, n=444
0%5%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside North East England.

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: 4 decided notices · market: division 48 · North East England, n=26
38 days43 days

Half of these awards were announced within 38 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.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 14 of 17 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 48 · North East England, n=558
82%68%

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 buyer25 lots with bid counts · all categories
32% had one bid
The market37 lots with bid counts · division 48 · North East England
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid32% / 14%
Buyer: 8 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
2–324% / 38%
Buyer: 6 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
4–624% / 35%
Buyer: 6 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
7+20% / 14%
Buyer: 5 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 37 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 buyer20 lots with estimate and award · all categories
45% below estimate
The market24 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · North East England
67% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate45% / 67%
Buyer: 9 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 16 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%40% / 13%
Buyer: 8 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate15% / 21%
Buyer: 3 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 24 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 #160 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£5.0m
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 37 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% single-bid risk
Past bids on 37 similar lots
1 bid14%
5 of 37 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–338%
14 of 37 similar past lots received 2–3 (38%).
4–635%
13 of 37 similar past lots received 4–6 (35%).
7+14%
5 of 37 similar past lots received 7+ (14%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £5.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
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
12 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
Last source update
16 Jan 2026, 10:14 GMT
Authority reference
IT168
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-003756
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
North East (UKC22)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0603c1 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

12 Jan 2026 → 1 Jun 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published281 days ago
    12 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
  2. Latest notice published277 days ago
    16 Jan 2026, 10:14 GMT
  3. Market engagement269 days ago
    23 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    The Council has issued a questionnaire that can be downloaded via the OPEN tender portal, www.open-uk.org/opportunities ↗. Interested suppliers will need to register on the portal for access to the questionnaire.

    Follow up 1-2-1 meetings will be arranged with suppliers who submit completed questionnaires.

  4. Contract starts141 days ago
    1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 12 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    12 Jan 2026, 14:05 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    16 Jan 2026, 10:14 GMT
    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

Gateshead Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PPGY-1151-NJQN · GB-UKPRN: 10002639 Civic Centre, Regent Terrace, Gateshead, North East, NE8 1HHContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure