Find a TenderPlanned procurementPipeline notice
Published 21 May 2026, 11:51 BST

Official UK procurement notice

DDAT Digital and Data - Strategic Delivery Partner

Authority: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Central government)

ServicesAward under frameworkAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline value£27,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 30 Sept 2028 · up to 30 Sept 2029 with extensions · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This is for the Strategic Delivery Partner to support delivery of digital products from discovery to live. One for the following service groups:

(a) Strategic Delivery: Development & Diplomatic Impact

(b) Strategic Delivery: People, Network & Events

(c) Strategic Delivery: Strategic Corporate

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · IT software development services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Oct 2026 – 30 Sept 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 30 Sept 2029 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’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: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →

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: 2 of 10 known-size awards · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=50
20%38%

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 (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 1 known-location awards · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=53
0 of 153%

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: 54 decided notices · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=59
82 days49 days

Half of these awards were announced within 82 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 5 of 14 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=70
36%54%

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 buyer137 lots with bid counts · all categories
15% had one bid
The market79 lots with bid counts · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
4% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid15% / 4%
Buyer: 20 of 137 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 79 lots with published bid counts.
2–354% / 32%
Buyer: 74 of 137 lots with published bid counts. Market: 25 of 79 lots with published bid counts.
4–625% / 33%
Buyer: 34 of 137 lots with published bid counts. Market: 26 of 79 lots with published bid counts.
7+7% / 32%
Buyer: 9 of 137 lots with published bid counts. Market: 25 of 79 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 buyer42 lots with estimate and award · all categories
31% below estimate
The market56 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
46% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate31% / 46%
Buyer: 13 of 42 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 26 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%36% / 34%
Buyer: 15 of 42 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate33% / 20%
Buyer: 14 of 42 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 56 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 722124 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£27m
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 90 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 90 similar lots
1 bid8%
7 of 90 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–332%
29 of 90 similar past lots received 2–3 (32%).
4–631%
28 of 90 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+29%
26 of 90 similar past lots received 7+ (29%).
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £27m, 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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Kainos Software LimitedEarlier contractConsular Digital and Data Delivery Partnerstarted Oct 2026—£84mMatched 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.

Restricted route (Stage 2 ITT / Shortlist): Bidding is restricted to invited candidates who qualified at Stage 1. Uninvited suppliers cannot participate in this round.

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.

59% title match.

A past supplier may not bid again.

The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (59% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid

Consular Digital and Data Delivery Partner — held by Kainos Software Limited; no contract end date published.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Award under framework
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
21 May 2026, 11:51 BST
Last source update
21 May 2026, 11:51 BST
Authority reference
CPG138572026
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-046978
Latest notice
Pipeline notice (UK1)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportIT software development services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069ee6 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

21 May 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 2 dates
  1. Planning notice published152 days ago
    21 May 2026, 11:51 BST
  2. Contract starts20 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Pipeline notice published
    21 May 2026, 11:51 BST
    UK1

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

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PXRR-8771-PHVX King Charles Street, London, London, SW1A 2AHContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender