Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 8 Jan 2026, 14:52 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Employee Benefits and Wellbeing System

Authority: Portsmouth City Council (Local council)

GoodsAbove 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 4 Nov 2029 · up to 1 Nov 2031 with extensions · starts 3 Nov 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Portsmouth City Council's (PCC) is seeking to understand the current software systems on the market which manage the full range of employee benefits and rewards, from retail discounts, employee recognition, health and wellbeing support and engagement.

We recognise the experience and innovation that suppliers can bring to these services. As such PCC would welcome your organisation's market information, which will be used to enable PCC to draw up a high-quality specification that meets the needs of the organisation and our employees.

This is purely a market consultation and is in no way an indication of the selection of your organisation or a guarantee of future work. Organisations participating in the market consultation will not have any advantage over organisations who do not participate in this process. Similarly, organisations not participating in the market consultation will not be disadvantaged.

CPV: Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSME
Contract period: 3 Nov 2027 – 4 Nov 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 1 Nov 2031 with extensions
Delivery: South EastEligibility: 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 Portsmouth City Council buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up

Portsmouth City Council’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: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerPortsmouth City Council · division 48
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: 2 of 7 known-size awards · market: division 48 · South East England, n=417
29%30%

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: 1 of 11 known-location awards · market: division 48 · South East England, n=526
9%20%

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: 15 decided notices · market: division 48 · South East England, n=30
46 days60 days

Half of these awards were announced within 46 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 2 of 15 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 48 · South East England, n=687
13%68%

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 buyer22 lots with bid counts · all categories
23% had one bid
The market39 lots with bid counts · division 48 · South East England
10% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid23% / 10%
Buyer: 5 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 39 lots with published bid counts.
2–341% / 26%
Buyer: 9 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 39 lots with published bid counts.
4–627% / 41%
Buyer: 6 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 16 of 39 lots with published bid counts.
7+9% / 23%
Buyer: 2 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 39 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 buyer12 lots with estimate and award · all categories
33% below estimate
The market28 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · South East England
57% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate33% / 57%
Buyer: 4 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 16 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%67% / 21%
Buyer: 8 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 21%
Buyer: 0 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 28 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 #124 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 39 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet10% single-bid risk
Past bids on 39 similar lots
1 bid10%
4 of 39 similar past lots received 1 bid (10%).
2–326%
10 of 39 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–641%
16 of 39 similar past lots received 4–6 (41%).
7+23%
9 of 39 similar past lots received 7+ (23%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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
Goods
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
8 Jan 2026, 14:52 GMT
Last source update
8 Jan 2026, 14:52 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-001522
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Software package and information systems
Delivery area
South East (UKJ31)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060201 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

8 Jan 2026 → 3 Nov 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published285 days ago
    8 Jan 2026, 14:52 GMT
  2. Market engagement265 days ago
    27 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    A market consultation questionnaire is available on in-tendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home ↗

    Subject to the response PCC may wish to engage with supplier with a proven solution further in an informal discussion.

    This is purely a market consultation and is in no way an indication of the selection of your organisation or a guarantee of future work. Organisations participating in the market consultation will not have any advantage over organisations who do not participate in this process. Similarly, organisations not participating in the market consultation will not be disadvantaged.

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 379 days
    3 Nov 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    8 Jan 2026, 14:52 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

Portsmouth City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PCNL-5714-PRZV Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, South East, PO1 2ALContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure