Find a TenderPlanned procurementPipeline notice
Published 13 Oct 2026, 13:21 BST

Official UK procurement notice

DDaT27541 - Procurement of Converged Solution

Procurement agent: UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)·On behalf of: UKSBS

GoodsSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Software Packages & ERP (48) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 31 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 8 Mar 2032 · starts 9 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This pipeline notice is for information only.

At this stage, no further details are available beyond what is published here.

When this opportunity progresses, a Tender Notice will be published on the Central Digital Platform, if applicable.

CPV: Network servers

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 5 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 9 Mar 2027 – 8 Mar 2032 (5 yrs)
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How UKSBS buys Servers (CPV 4882), and who usually turns up

UKSBS’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: Servers (CPV 4882) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUKSBS · 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 14 known-size awards · market: CPV 4882 · UK-wide, n=24
21%13%

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 South West England (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 2 known-location awards · market: CPV 4882 · South West England (authority’s region), n=7
2 of 20%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South West 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: no decision dates published · market: division 48 · South West England (authority’s region), n=27
—38 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 buyer’s 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: at least 9 of 17 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4882 · South West England (authority’s region), n=5
53%100%

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 · all categories · too few to chart
The market32 lots with bid counts · division 48 · South West England (authority’s region)
13% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13%
Market: 4 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
2–325%
Market: 8 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
4–647%
Market: 15 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
7+16%
Market: 5 of 32 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 buyer2 lots with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The market19 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · South West England (authority’s region)
53% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate53%
Market: 10 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%37%
Market: 7 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate11%
Market: 2 of 19 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 488260 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 32 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 32 similar lots
1 bid13%
4 of 32 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–325%
8 of 32 similar past lots received 2–3 (25%).
4–647%
15 of 32 similar past lots received 4–6 (47%).
7+16%
5 of 32 similar past lots received 7+ (16%).
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.

No supplier with a record in this category fits this lot yet.

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 match score 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
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
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
13 Oct 2026, 13:21 BST
Last source update
13 Oct 2026, 13:21 BST
Authority reference
DDaT27541
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-096541
Latest notice
Pipeline notice (UK1)
Classification (CPV)
Network servers
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078684 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

13 Oct 2026 → 9 Mar 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published1 day ago
    13 Oct 2026, 13:21 BST
  2. Today
    14 Oct 2026
  3. Tender notice expectedin 110 days
    31 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract startsin 146 days
    9 Mar 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Pipeline notice published
    13 Oct 2026, 13:21 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

3 public bodies on the notice

UK Research and Innovation

Procurement agentPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDQJ-7126-JDHG Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, South West, SN2 1FLContact email

Clients of the procurement agent

  • UKSBSBeneficiary authority
  • UK Shared Business Services LtdProcess contact pointProcuring entityShared Business ProviderGB-PPON: PMPN-7535-GNTG Swindon, South WestContact name, 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