Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 23 Jul 2026, 12:10 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Digital Personnel Licensing · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Civil Aviation Authority (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 30 Nov 2030 · up to 30 Nov 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Dec 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Digital Personnel Licensing - RFI

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is exploring the use of digital credentials to replace or supplement existing physical professional licences and certificates. These may include licences, ratings, endorsements, medical certificates and other professional credentials issued to pilots, air traffic controllers, flight engineers, cabin crew, maintenance engineers and other licensed aviation personnel.

The target solution will enable authorised individuals to hold digital credentials on a mobile device and present them for inspection by authorised verifiers. The solution must support both online and offline verification scenarios and provide strong cryptographic assurance of credential authenticity, integrity and status.

The purpose of this market engagement is to understand the maturity and capabilities of existing holder and verifier applications, Software Development Kits (SDKs) and commercial products that could support this capability.

CPV: Air transport services · Information systems or technology strategic review and planning services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Dec 2027 – 30 Nov 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 30 Nov 2032 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME 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 Civil Aviation Authority buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up

Civil Aviation Authority’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: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCivil Aviation Authority · 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: 5 of 12 known-size awards · market: CPV 7222 · South East England, n=60
42%48%

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 East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 15 known-location awards · market: CPV 7222 · South East England, n=85
13%29%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South East 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: CPV 7222 · UK-wide, n=74
—47 days

Half of these awards were announced within 47 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 4 of 17 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7222 · South East England, n=93
24%73%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

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 market10 lots with bid counts · CPV 7222 · South East England
40% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid40%
Market: 4 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
2–320%
Market: 2 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
4–60%
Market: 0 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
7+40%
Market: 4 of 10 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 · all categories · too few to chart
The market8 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7222 · South East England
38% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate38%
Market: 3 of 8 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%38%
Market: 3 of 8 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate25%
Market: 2 of 8 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 722236 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 10 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet40% single-bid risk
Past bids on 10 similar lots
1 bid40%
4 of 10 similar past lots received 1 bid (40%).
2–320%
2 of 10 similar past lots received 2–3 (20%).
4–60%
0 of 10 similar past lots received 4–6 (0%).
7+40%
4 of 10 similar past lots received 7+ (40%).
Check who supplied similar work and whether the route limits bidders.
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
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
23 Jul 2026, 12:10 BST
Last source update
23 Jul 2026, 12:11 BST
Authority reference
3896
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-069637
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Air transport servicesInformation systems or technology strategic review and planning services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d1b6 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

23 Jul 2026 → 1 Dec 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published90 days ago
    23 Jul 2026, 12:10 BST
  2. Market engagement47 days ago
    3 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    Full RFI documentation will be shared upon receipt of an NDA.

  3. Today
    21 Oct 2026
  4. Contract starts
    1 Dec 2027

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 23 Jul 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    23 Jul 2026, 12:10 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    23 Jul 2026, 12:11 BST
    UK2

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

Civil Aviation Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PVLP-5762-YGVT Aviation House, Beehive Ring Road, Crawley, South East, RH6 0YRContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure