Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Nov 2026, 10:12 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Electoral Management Software (EMS)

Authority: The Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Feb 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 30 May 2030 · starts 1 Jun 2027
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile and is the oldest continuous municipal democracy in the world. The City of London has a unique electoral system where both workers and residents can vote.

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile and is the oldest continuous municipal democracy in the world. The City of London has a unique electoral system where both workers and residents can vote. It is undertaking preliminary market engagement to explore options for the future provision of its Electoral Management Software (EMS). The Corporation currently operates a bespoke, supplier-hosted system, accessed via a virtual desktop/server environment, which supports electoral registration, election management and the administration of the City Occupiers Database (COD), including associated business registration, voter entitlement and electoral processes unique to the City of London.

We are seeking to understand the market's ability to provide a modern, secure, resilient and adaptable solution that accommodates these specialist requirements alongside standard electoral functions, including recent and anticipated legislative changes, such as the divergent postal voting arrangements applicable to City elections. The Corporation is open to a range of hosting and delivery models, including supplier-hosted virtual desktop/server environments and cloud-based solutions. This exercise will help inform our procurement strategy, including the potential for configurable, integrated or bespoke solutions.

CPV: Industry specific software development services · System management software development services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrsSME

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

How The Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up

The Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bidWhat to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Buyer: 23 of 44 known-size awards · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=433
52%56%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

Buyer: 1 of 2 known-location awards · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=223
1 of 235%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i
Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=61
—49 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 49 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Buyer: at least 40 of 52 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=573
77%66%

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
This buyer68 lots with bid counts · all categories
6% had one bid
The market78 lots with bid counts · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
4% had one bid
% of lots with a published bid count: this buyer (68) / the market (78) · select a colour for counts
1 bid6% / 4%
Buyer: 4 of 68 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 78 lots with published bid counts.
2–324% / 35%
Buyer: 16 of 68 lots with published bid counts. Market: 27 of 78 lots with published bid counts.
4–635% / 31%
Buyer: 24 of 68 lots with published bid counts. Market: 24 of 78 lots with published bid counts.
7+35% / 31%
Buyer: 24 of 68 lots with published bid counts. Market: 24 of 78 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i
This buyer46 lots with estimate and award · all categories
63% below estimate
The market56 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
46% below estimate
% of lots with an estimate and award: this buyer (46) / the market (56) · select a colour for counts
Below estimate63% / 46%
Buyer: 29 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 26 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%20% / 34%
Buyer: 9 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17% / 20%
Buyer: 8 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 722136 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published
Expected competition
i

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 78 past lots.

—No model forecast yet4% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 78 similar lots
1 bid4%
3 of 78 similar past lots received 1 bid (4%).
2–335%
27 of 78 similar past lots received 2–3 (35%).
4–631%
24 of 78 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+31%
24 of 78 similar past lots received 7+ (31%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

—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

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see 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
6 Nov 2026, 10:12 GMT
Last source update
6 Nov 2026, 10:12 GMT
Authority reference
pqq_124 - Electoral Management Software (PME)
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-105550
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Industry specific software development servicesSystem management software development services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b617 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

6 Nov 2026 → 1 Jun 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published7 days ago
    6 Nov 2026, 10:12 GMT
  2. Today
    13 Nov 2026
  3. Market engagementin 18 days
    1 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT

    If your organisation is able to contribute to this Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise, please register and create a supplier profile on the City of London Corporation e-tendering portal.

    Link: cityoflondon.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/esop/ogc-host/public… ↗

    Once registered, please search for “pqq_124 - Electoral Management Software (PME)”, access the opportunity and submit your completed questionnaire via the portal by the stated deadline, 01/12/2026.

  4. Tender notice expectedin 80 days
    1 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 199 days
    1 Jun 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Nov 2026, 10:12 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

The Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PYQD-1693-MYXR PO Box 270, City of London, London, EC2P 2EJContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure