Find a TenderPlanned procurementPipeline notice
Published 16 May 2025, 11:39 BST

Official UK procurement notice

DVSA contact centre additional capacity - Call Surges

Authority: Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£3,500,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Jun 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 18 Jul 2030 · up to 18 Jul 2032 with extensions · starts 19 Jul 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This is for the provision of call centre resource as a business contingency. This will provide support with unforeseen call volumes in the event of a call sugre, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. DVSA therefore requires the ability to scale up its call handling capacity, at short notice, enabling it to manage any future demand should it be needed.

CPV: Call centre

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 19 Jul 2027 – 18 Jul 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 18 Jul 2032 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 Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency buys Telephone-answering services (CPV 7951), and who usually turns up

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’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: Telephone-answering services (CPV 7951) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerDriver and Vehicle Standards Agency · division 79
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: 10 of 39 known-size awards · market: CPV 7951 · South West England (authority’s region), n=6
26%17%

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: no winner locations published · market: CPV 7951 · South West England (authority’s region), n=8
—0%

No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address 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: 13 decided notices · market: CPV 7951 · UK-wide, n=16
42 days42 days

Half of these awards were announced within 42 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 14 of 36 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7951 · South West England (authority’s region), n=9
39%44%

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 buyer15 lots with bid counts · all categories
47% had one bid
The market25 lots with bid counts · CPV 7951 · UK-wide
20% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid47% / 20%
Buyer: 7 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 25 lots with published bid counts.
2–320% / 24%
Buyer: 3 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 25 lots with published bid counts.
4–627% / 12%
Buyer: 4 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 25 lots with published bid counts.
7+7% / 44%
Buyer: 1 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 25 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 buyer10 lots with estimate and award · all categories
30% below estimate
The market23 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7951 · UK-wide
39% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate30% / 39%
Buyer: 3 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 23 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%60% / 48%
Buyer: 6 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 23 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate10% / 13%
Buyer: 1 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 23 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 795136 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£3.5m
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 176 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet7% single-bid risk
Past bids on 176 similar lots
1 bid7%
13 of 176 similar past lots received 1 bid (7%).
2–319%
34 of 176 similar past lots received 2–3 (19%).
4–630%
53 of 176 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+43%
76 of 176 similar past lots received 7+ (43%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 6 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 £3.5m, 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.

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
16 May 2025, 11:39 BST
Last source update
18 Jun 2026, 08:10 BST
Authority reference
T280022871
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-057358
Latest notice
Pipeline notice (UK1)
Classification (CPV)
Call centre
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05159b Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

16 May 2025 → 19 Jul 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    16 May 2025, 11:39 BST
  2. Latest notice published125 days ago
    18 Jun 2026, 08:10 BST
  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 224 days
    1 Jun 2027, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract startsin 271 days
    19 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 May 2025
  1. Pipeline notice published
    16 May 2025, 11:39 BST
    UK1
  2. Pipeline notice published
    18 Jun 2026, 08:10 BST
    UK1
Published amendments (1)

The current contract has been extended in accordance with its terms, and this notice has been updated to reflect that position. Please note that this is a UK1 Pipeline Notice. This is not a PIN or call for pre-market engagement/competition. As this is a pipeline notice, there is no guarantee that a tender opportunity will result from this. Should a tender opportunity materialise, further notices w…

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

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PTMM-2614-YJDV Berkeley House, Croydon Street, Bristol, South West, BS5 0DAContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender