Find a TenderPlanned procurementPlanned procurement notice
Published 10 Nov 2025, 16:49 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Creative Agency · SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED (Nov 2025)

Authority: SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED (Public body)

ServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Dec 2025from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 31 May 2028 · up to 31 May 2030 with extensions · starts 1 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Procurement is for the the provision of Strategic and Creative Marketing Services, Account and Project Management and Production Services.

The Agency will be responsible for the development and delivery of integrated through the line campaigns for the Customer to meet a written set of agreed KPIs and objectives. The detail of such campaigns will be defined in an agreed brief and subsequent scope of work.

Campaigns could include, but are not limited to: -

Annual SWR leisure campaigns,

Tactical Campaigns,

Commuter campaigns,

Reactive campaigns.

Such campaigns will comprise of multiple owned, earned and paid channels (as agreed in writing in a separate scope of work for each campaign) including, but not limited to: -

TV,

Radio,

Email,

Digital display,

Website,

Social media,

Station Posters and on-board media.

Leaflets & flyers,

Press,

Services supplied to include:

Creative services

Account and Project Management services

Financial reconciliations services

Production services

CPV: Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Jun 2026 – 31 May 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 31 May 2030 with extensions
Delivery: LondonEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: to be confirmed

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED buys Business services: law, marketing, consulting (CPV 79), and who usually turns up

SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED’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: Business services: law, marketing, consulting (CPV 79) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerSOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED · all categories
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: 3 of 17 known-size awards · market: division 79 · Greater London, n=1,068
18%41%

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 Greater London.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 6 of 21 known-location awards · market: division 79 · Greater London, n=1,292
29%57%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside 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: no decision dates published · market: division 79 · Greater London, n=163
—52 days

Half of these awards were announced within 52 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 20 of 22 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 79 · Greater London, n=1,461
91%49%

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 buyer1 lot with bid counts · broad CPV 79 · too few to chart
The market333 lots with bid counts · division 79 · Greater London
10% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid10%
Market: 34 of 333 lots with published bid counts.
2–329%
Market: 96 of 333 lots with published bid counts.
4–633%
Market: 111 of 333 lots with published bid counts.
7+28%
Market: 92 of 333 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 buyer1 lot with estimate and award · broad CPV 79 · too few to chart
The market266 lots with estimate and award · division 79 · Greater London
41% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate41%
Market: 109 of 266 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%45%
Market: 121 of 266 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate14%
Market: 36 of 266 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 #124 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published
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 333 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet10% single-bid risk
Past bids on 333 similar lots
1 bid10%
34 of 333 similar past lots received 1 bid (10%).
2–329%
96 of 333 similar past lots received 2–3 (29%).
4–633%
111 of 333 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+28%
92 of 333 similar past lots received 7+ (28%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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
Procedure method
Competitive flexible procedure
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
10 Nov 2025, 16:49 GMT
Last source update
10 Nov 2025, 16:49 GMT
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 6 Mar 2026
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-072550
Latest notice
Planned procurement notice (UK3)
Classification (CPV)
Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
Delivery area
North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)East of England (UKH)London (UKI)South East (UKJ)
+1 moreSouth West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05de13 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en

Timeline

10 Nov 2025 → 1 Jun 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published345 days ago
    10 Nov 2025, 16:49 GMT
  2. Tender notice expected323 days ago
    1 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
  3. Submission deadline263 days ago
    30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Award decision expected by228 days ago
    6 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract starts142 days ago
    1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Planned procurement notice published
    10 Nov 2025, 16:49 GMT
    UK3

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

SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic undertaking GB-COH: 03266760 · GB-PPON: PQHL-7495-VCQT South Bank Central 4th Floor, 30 Stamford Street,, London, London, SE1 9LQContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure