Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 30 Mar 2026, 13:23 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Engagement Platform · UK public procurement notice

Authority: West Lancashire Borough Council (Local council)

Dynamic marketServicesBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline value£6,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 30 Apr 2026from the planned procurement notice
Market period 2 yrsends 1 Aug 2028 · up to 1 Feb 2029 with extensions · starts 3 Aug 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

To support this ambition, West Lancashire Borough Council is procuring a digital engagement platform. This platform will serve as a central tool to facilitate safe, accessible, and data-rich engagement opportunities with our stakeholders. It will enable us to gather insights, consult effectively, and co-create solutions with our residents, tenants, and partners

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

How this dynamic market works

From the published notice
Type
Dynamic market
Market period
2 yrs · up to 2 yrs 6 mo from 3 Aug 2026

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 3 Aug 2026 – 1 Aug 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 1 Feb 2029 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
What this means for your bid
  • “Engagement Platform” is a dynamic market: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

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

How West Lancashire Borough Council buys IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72), and who usually turns up

West Lancashire Borough Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerWest Lancashire Borough Council · 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: 12 of 12 known-size awards · market: no supplier sizes published
100%—

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 25 of 28 known-location awards · market: no winner locations published
89%—

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in the delivery region.

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: no decision dates published
——

No decision dates published to compare.

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.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 procurements with awards; rival share unknown · market: no bid counts or routes published
——

Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.

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 suitablePublished estimate£6k
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 199 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet9% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 199 similar lots
1 bid9%
17 of 199 similar past lots received 1 bid (9%).
2–322%
43 of 199 similar past lots received 2–3 (22%).
4–630%
59 of 199 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+40%
80 of 199 similar past lots received 7+ (40%).
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.

—Priced at call-off
On a framework or DPS the price is agreed on each call-off, so there is no award price to forecast here: the published figure is a ceiling.

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
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Dynamic market
Who may use this agreement
Any qualifying supplier may apply while the market is open
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
30 Mar 2026, 13:23 BST
Last source update
30 Mar 2026, 13:23 BST
Authority reference
DN811540
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-029082
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0677cb Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Admission period ends
—

Timeline

30 Mar 2026 → 3 Aug 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published206 days ago
    30 Mar 2026, 13:23 BST
  2. Market engagement177 days ago
    28 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    To support this ambition, West Lancashire Borough Council is procuring a digital engagement platform. This platform will serve as a central tool to facilitate safe, accessible, and data-rich engagement opportunities with our stakeholders. It will enable us to gather insights, consult effectively, and co-create solutions with our residents, tenants, and partners

  3. Tender notice expected175 days ago
    30 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts81 days ago
    3 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Mar 2026, 13:23 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

West Lancashire Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PGNW-2815-DRQZ 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk, North West, L39 2SAContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure