Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 19 Jan 2026, 15:03 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

E Discovery and Data Management Services

Authority: Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Local council)

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 2 yrsends 28 Feb 2028 · up to 28 Feb 2031 with extensions · starts 1 Mar 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), as the contracting authority for Greater Manchester Police, is looking to procure a solution for the delivery of E Discovery Services for a large scale, and live, fraud investigation.

CPV: Computer-related management services · Computer-related professional services · Data services · Database and operating software package · Industry specific software package · Internet services · Programming services of packaged software products · System and support services · Systems analysis and programming services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Greater Manchester Combined Authority buys Computer-related management services (CPV 7251), and who usually turns up

Greater Manchester Combined 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: Computer-related management services (CPV 7251) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerGreater Manchester Combined Authority · division 72
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: 13 of 41 known-size awards · market: CPV 7251 · North West England, n=5
32%20%

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 North West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 of 37 known-location awards · market: CPV 7251 · North West England, n=5
27%0%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside North 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: 22 decided notices · market: division 72 · North West England, n=50
42 days62 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 45 of 56 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7251 · North West England, n=5
80%40%

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 buyer56 lots with bid counts · all categories
25% had one bid
The market7 lots with bid counts · CPV 7251 · UK-wide
43% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid25% / 43%
Buyer: 14 of 56 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
2–330% / 0%
Buyer: 17 of 56 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
4–623% / 43%
Buyer: 13 of 56 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 7 lots with published bid counts.
7+21% / 14%
Buyer: 12 of 56 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 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 buyer31 lots with estimate and award · all categories
35% below estimate
The market65 lots with estimate and award · division 72 · North West England
32% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate35% / 32%
Buyer: 11 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 21 of 65 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%61% / 51%
Buyer: 19 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 33 of 65 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate3% / 17%
Buyer: 1 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 65 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 725124 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 74 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet9% single-bid risk
Past bids on 74 similar lots
1 bid9%
7 of 74 similar past lots received 1 bid (9%).
2–331%
23 of 74 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–620%
15 of 74 similar past lots received 4–6 (20%).
7+39%
29 of 74 similar past lots received 7+ (39%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 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.

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
19 Jan 2026, 15:03 GMT
Last source update
19 Jan 2026, 15:03 GMT
Authority reference
A1257
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-004417
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Computer-related management servicesComputer-related professional servicesData servicesDatabase and operating software packageIndustry specific software packageInternet servicesProgramming services of packaged software productsSystem and support servicesSystems analysis and programming services
Delivery area
North West (UKD)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0608e6 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

19 Jan 2026 → 1 Mar 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published274 days ago
    19 Jan 2026, 15:03 GMT
  2. Market engagement262 days ago
    30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Prior to any procurement process, GMP is undertaking a period of preliminary market engagement.

    Interested parties are invited to complete a short questionnaire which will allow GMP to better understand the current market, assist the Force in the development of the final specification and identify the most appropriate route to market.

    It should be noted that tender documents have not yet been issued for this contract. The full specification will be made available at the start of any subsequent procurement

    process.

    Following a review of questionnaire responses, GMP may invite one or more suppliers to discuss their offering in more detail.

    To register an interest in this preliminary market engagement process and to receive a copy of the questionnaire, please email [email protected]. Please quote the reference 'A1257' on all correspondence.

    Clarifications may also be sought using the same address.

    To ensure transparency rules are adhered to, no correspondence should be entered into with any GMP employee or contractor about this requirement, other than as stated above.

  3. Contract starts233 days ago
    1 Mar 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    19 Jan 2026, 15:03 GMT
    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

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PXBN-3793-LCTQ 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, North West, M1 6EUContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure