Official UK procurement notice
European Traffic Management System (ERTMS) Early Works - Stage 2 (Develop) Support Services
Authority: HS1 Ltd (t/a London St. Pancras Highspeed) (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionPreliminary Market Engagement Notice London St. Pancras Highspeed's current TVM430 signalling system is reaching obsolescence, creating increasing operational, safety and resilience risks. Without intervention, system reliability and lifecycle issues are expected to significantly impact network performance from the 2030s. Stage 1 of the upgrade programme—delivered with SYSTRA—produced an Operational Context Document, a Technical Strategy with long‑ and short‑list options, and a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) in WebTAG format. This completed the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) Stage 1: Determine. LSPH and its stakeholders are now progressing to RNEP Stage 2: Develop, requiring specialist external consultancy support throughout 2026. Stage 2 will resolve key strategic questions, including the preferred technology solution for replacing TVM430, the funding approach within the HS1 regulatory and concession framework, the suitability of innovative commercial models, strategic opportunities, and the project delivery and scope choices that minimise whole‑life cost. Additional strategic issues may be identified collaboratively during the process. Summary of requirement Stage 2 has an estimated duration of six months, extending if an option to complete on-site surveys is executed, and aims to evaluate a range of delivery options for introducing ERTMS on High Speed 1. The assessment will include but not be limited to benefits, costs, deliverability, and operational impacts. The objective is to secure full stakeholder agreement on a single, coherent project delivery strategy for ERTMS implementation. To complete Stage 2, the appointed consultant will deliver:
- Confirmation of the preferred technical option, commercial delivery model, funding route, and integrated project delivery model.
- Long‑list and short‑list optioneering across technical, commercial, and funding dimensions to determine the integrated delivery model.
- A whole‑life cost estimate for the integrated delivery model.
- A delivery schedule through to entry into service and handover to maintenance.
- A comprehensive RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies) register in the authority’s format.
- All Deliverables from the Deliverables Register (to be provided).
- Satisfy paragraphs A.6 to A.11 of the latest Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline guidance to enable progression to the next phase. Required Outcome All relevant stakeholders support and agree to the implementation of a single, coherent project delivery strategy for ERTMS on High Speed 1. Timescales and Procedure The Contracting Authority intends to follow a Competitive Flexible procedure in this procurement. The Contracting Authority intends to publish a tender notice in April 2026 and award a contract in September 2026.
CPV: Business and management consultancy services · General management consultancy services · Railway engineering services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) in Greater London, and who usually turns up
HS1 Ltd (t/a London St. Pancras Highspeed) has too little published record in this market to describe on its own. Published market evidence for the same work stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Consultative engineering and construction services (CPV 7131) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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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 Greater London.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.
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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.
Half of these awards were announced within 50 days of the bid deadline.
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How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
How many bids did past lots attract?
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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.
1 bid11%
2–320%
4–635%
7+35%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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.
Below estimate62%
Within ±2%24%
Above estimate14%
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.
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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 7131Published estimate£600k
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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 55 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid11%
2–320%
4–635%
7+35%
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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.
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.
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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.
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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
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 13 Mar 2026, 09:31 GMT
- Last source update
- 13 Mar 2026, 09:31 GMT
- Authority reference
2026-10- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-022699- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-066937Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
13 Mar 2026 → 28 Sept 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published222 days ago13 Mar 2026, 09:31 GMT
- Market engagement208 days ago27 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice expected184 days ago20 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts24 days ago28 Sept 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published13 Mar 2026, 09:31 GMTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender