Digital Licensing Modernisation

{
  "id": "073845-2026",
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  "date": "2026-08-04T16:03:50+01:00",
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    "title": "Digital Licensing Modernisation",
    "status": "planned",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "2023/54",
      "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents",
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    "description": "The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is exploring a potential future procurement to support the modernisation of digital trade and business licensing services across central government and local authorities. This may include the design, development, and delivery of user‑centred digital licensing journeys, alongside supporting data, integration, and interoperability capabilities.\nAt this stage, DBT is seeking to understand market capability and delivery approaches. As such, the scope and scale of any future procurement are not yet defined. Indicative areas of interest include digital service design and development, data standardisation and validation, integration with existing systems, and approaches to improving data quality and reducing administrative burden.\nThis notice is published for the purpose of increasing visibility and transparency, a UK2 PME Notice has been published and contains more up to date information. Please be aware, contract dates and tender publication are as yet unknown as is the route to market. Dates included in this notice are not confirmed.",
    "communication": {
      "futureNoticeDate": "2026-09-30T23:59:59+01:00"
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      "address": {
        "region": "UKI32",
        "country": "GB",
        "locality": "London",
        "postalCode": "SW1A 2DY",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Old Admiralty Building"
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      "contactPoint": {
        "email": "commercialddat@businessandtrade.gov.uk"
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  "language": "en",
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        "datePublished": "2026-08-04T16:03:50+01:00"
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  "date": "2026-06-18T14:13:30+01:00",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-06b82d",
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    "name": "Department for Business & Trade"
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    ],
    "title": "Digital Licensing Modernisation PME Webinar",
    "status": "planning",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "2023/54",
      "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents",
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    "description": "The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is exploring a potential future procurement to support the modernisation of digital trade and business licensing services across central government and local authorities. This may include the design, development, and delivery of user‑centred digital licensing journeys, alongside supporting data, integration, and interoperability capabilities.\nAt this stage, DBT is seeking to understand market capability and delivery approaches. As such, the scope and scale of any future procurement are not yet defined. Indicative areas of interest include digital service design and development, data standardisation and validation, integration with existing systems, and approaches to improving data quality and reducing administrative burden.",
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      "name": "Department for Business & Trade",
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      "address": {
        "region": "UKI32",
        "country": "GB",
        "locality": "London",
        "postalCode": "SW1A 2DY",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Old Admiralty Building"
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      "contactPoint": {
        "email": "DataAndSystems@businessandtrade.gov.uk"
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        "id": "057610-2026",
        "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057610-2026",
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        "noticeType": "UK2",
        "description": "Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender",
        "documentType": "marketEngagementNotice",
        "datePublished": "2026-06-18T14:13:30+01:00"
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      {
        "id": "engagement",
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        "dueDate": "2026-07-07T23:59:59+01:00",
        "description": "UK2 – Preliminary Market Engagement Notice\nDigital Licensing Modernisation\n1. Contracting Authority\nDepartment for Business and Trade (DBT)\n2. Purpose of this Notice\nThe Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is undertaking preliminary market engagement to inform its understanding of the market and to help shape a potential future procurement relating to the modernisation of digital trade and business licensing services.\nThis engagement is intended to support early thinking and learning only. It does not constitute a call for competition and DBT makes no commitment to commence a procurement as a result of this engagement. DBT has not made any decisions on delivery approach, commercial structure, route to market, or solution at this stage.\n3. Background and Context (High Level)\nLicensing services represent a significant point of interaction between businesses, local authorities, and central government. DBT’s work to date indicates that many licensing submission routes remain fragmented and heavily document based, creating friction for users and inefficiencies for public authorities. A key underlying issue is the lack of shared infrastructure and interoperability between licensing systems, which leads to duplication, rekeying and inconsistent processes across authorities.\nIn some areas, legacy arrangements operate under time limited contractual and technical constraints, creating maintainability and continuity risks over time. This reinforces the need for an orderly transition that can work alongside local authority adoption constraints and existing systems.  Previous exploratory work by DBT has highlighted that there may be opportunities to:\n•\timprove how licensing services are delivered digitally;\n•\treduce avoidable administrative burden for businesses and public authorities;\n•\timprove the quality, consistency, and usability of licensing data at the point of submission; and\n•\tsupport improved regulatory and safeguarding outcomes where appropriate.\nDBT is seeking to engage with the market at an early stage to better understand what is feasible, what challenges exist, and what considerations should inform any future approach, without presupposing solutions, delivery models, technologies or platforms.\n4. Focus of the Engagement\nAt this stage, DBT is deliberately focusing on outcomes, risks, and feasibility, rather than detailed requirements or predefined solutions.\nIndicative areas of interest include:\n•\tdesigning repeatable and user‑centred digital licensing journeys;\n•\timproving data quality through validation at the point of submission;\n•\twhere appropriate, the role of identity‑related or eligibility checks;\n•\tapproaches to scaling delivery across additional licence types;\n•\tdevelopment and adoption of common data standards;\n•\tapproaches to interoperability and shared infrastructure (including common data models and integration patterns) that can work across multiple local authorities and suppliers;\n•\toptions for data storage and retention; and\n•\tthe feasibility of automation or pre‑submission checks to support regulatory or safeguarding requirements.\nDBT is keen to understand supplier perspectives on these areas, including delivery risks, dependencies, constraints, and lessons learned from comparable work, in order to shape a future procurement that is realistic, proportionate, and value for money.\n5. Scope of Pre‑Market Engagement Activity\nThe pre‑market engagement is expected to include:\n•\tan open supplier webinar to provide context and frame the areas where DBT is seeking input;\n•\tan opportunity for suppliers to provide feedback and observations following the webinar; and\n•\tpotential follow‑up 1‑to‑1 engagement for clarification purposes only, where helpful.\nNo commitments, commercial discussions, or detailed solution proposals will be sought or agreed during this engagement.\nDBT will ensure that any material information arising from this engagement is shared transparently with all participants. Responses may be summarised and shared in anonymised form to support a fair process.\n6. Indicative Timeline (Non‑Binding)\nIndicative timings (subject to refinement following engagement) are currently anticipated as follows:\nPre‑market engagement: July 2026 (including a supplier webinar currently anticipated for 9 July 2026, subject to change)\nThese timelines are indicative only and may change.\n7. Registering Interest\nSuppliers wishing to participate in this pre‑market engagement are invited to register their interest by emailing:\ncommercialddat@businessandtrade.gov.uk\nPlease include the following information in your email:\nSubject: Digital Trade Licensing Modernisation – PME Registration\nOrganisation name\nPrimary contact name\nContact email address (for webinar communications)\nContact role/title\nOrganisation size (SME / Large / VCSE – optional)\nConfirmation of interest in attending the webinar\nDBT will confirm registration and share further details, including webinar arrangements, in due course.\n8. Important Information\nParticipation in this pre‑market engagement is voluntary.\nParticipation will not provide any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement."
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