Official UK procurement notice
Critical Minerals - Demand Aggregation Platform
Authority: Department for Business & Trade (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionA new web-based platform to help UK industry consolidate and pool its critical mineral demand across different industries, facilitate industry-led strategic offtake agreements, and help industry and Government to make better use of UK public finance to catalyse private investment.
The expectation is that the Platform will feature user onboarding and vetting, demand and supply data submission, demand aggregation, matchmaking, and reporting functionalities, with a pilot stage to test proof of concept and operating model.
Suppliers must consider robust governance, security management, continuous improvement, clear data management policies, and compliance with legal frameworks, including competition law, data protection legislation, and international trade regulations. Platform design must not enable anti-competitive practices.
The success of any proposed solution will be measured by comprehensive screening, broad sector participation and engagement, effective buyer-supplier matches, and regular insightful reporting to government and industry stakeholders.
For more information, please register for the webinar as per the details below. Upon registration, you will be provided with a Specification of Requirements (SoR) document, that outlines the initial thinking in further detail.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Business & Trade buys IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72), and who usually turns up
Department for Business & Trade’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: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in Greater London.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 98 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid21% / 8%
2–343% / 31%
4–636% / 31%
7+0% / 29%
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.
Below estimate17% / 41%
Within ±2%83% / 38%
Above estimate0% / 21%
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.
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 #1Published estimate£4.2m
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 102 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–331%
4–631%
7+29%
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.
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.
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deliotte LLPEarlier contract | Critical Minerals - Demand Aggregation Platformended Mar 2026 | — | £42k | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (100% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Critical Minerals - Demand Aggregation Platform — held by Deliotte LLP; the published contract ends 30 Mar 2026.
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
- 28 Jul 2026, 13:57 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Aug 2026, 12:15 BST
- Authority reference
project_5334- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-080805- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d550Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
28 Jul 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published86 days ago28 Jul 2026, 13:57 BST
- Latest notice published58 days ago25 Aug 2026, 12:15 BST
- Market engagement19 days ago2 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
The Authority will undertake a structured engagement process with suppliers to better understand the market's capability to deliver a Critical Minerals Demand Aggregation Platform. Engagement activities will seek feedback on potential technical solutions, implementation approaches, commercial models, data requirements, security considerations, scalability, interoperability and opportunities for innovation.
Suppliers will be invited to participate in a market engagement webinar on 17/09/2026, during which the Authority will provide an overview of the programme objectives, the proposed requirements and the outcomes the platform is expected to support. Suppliers will have the opportunity to raise questions and seek clarification on the Authority's current thinking.
Following the webinar, suppliers will be invited to provide written responses to a series of questions. The Authority will review and analyse responses to test assumptions, identify potential risks and constraints, understand market maturity and capability, and gather views on the most appropriate delivery approaches.
The feedback received will be used to help refine the requirements, inform the procurement and commercial strategy, strengthen the specification and ensure that any future procurement is designed in a way that reflects current market capability and encourages effective competition. All engagement activities will be conducted in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner, and participation in the engagement process will not form part of any future evaluation exercise.
Following review of webinar discussions and written responses, the Authority may, at its discretion, invite selected participants to take part in further engagement activities where additional clarification or exploration of particular topics would be beneficial.
To express interest in attending the event and to receive joining instructions, please RSVP by 14/09/2026 to [email protected]. Upon registering we will also provide a high-level Specification of Requirements for your review ahead of the webinar
- Tender notice expected16 days ago5 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 130 days1 Mar 2027
Notice history
5 events · 5 releases on Find a Tender · since 28 Jul 2026- Pipeline notice published28 Jul 2026, 13:57 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Aug 2026, 16:45 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Aug 2026, 10:59 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Aug 2026, 11:03 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Aug 2026, 12:15 BSTUK2
Published amendments (3)
Addition of attachment: Specification of Requirements
Due to not being able to attach the current proposed Specification of Requirements (SoR) to the notice, we have stated in the "Engagement" section that upon registration of interest, we will provide the SoR to you.
Due to not being able to attach the current proposed Specification of Requirements (SoR) to the notice, we have provided some additional detail in the "Description" field of the "Scope" section, and stated in the "Engagement" section that upon registration of interest, we will provide the outline SoR to you which provides more detail on current thinking.
Routine re-releases (5)
- 2026-08: 1 release · 24 Aug 2026
- 2026-07: 1 release · 28 Jul 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
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender