Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 7 Apr 2026, 17:39 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Finance and Procurement P2P Pre-Market Engagement

Authority: Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Central government)

GoodsAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£2,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Aug 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 31 May 2033 · up to 31 May 2035 with extensions · starts 1 Jun 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust are undertaking this Pre-Market Engagement for a Finance and Procurement Purchase to Pay System to better understand the market and help inform future procurement activity.

CPV: Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 5 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Jun 2028 – 31 May 2033 (5 yrs) · up to 31 May 2035 with extensions
Delivery: South WestEligibility: 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 Somerset NHS Foundation Trust buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’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: 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 buyerSomerset NHS Foundation Trust · 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 4 known-size awards · market: division 48 · South West England, n=401
2 of 431%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 5 known-location awards · market: division 48 · South West England, n=484
20%10%

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

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: division 48 · South West England, n=28
—45 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 45 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 6 of 7 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 48 · South West England, n=610
86%67%

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 buyer28 lots with bid counts · all categories
11% had one bid
The market33 lots with bid counts · division 48 · South West England
12% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid11% / 12%
Buyer: 3 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 33 lots with published bid counts.
2–329% / 24%
Buyer: 8 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 33 lots with published bid counts.
4–618% / 45%
Buyer: 5 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 33 lots with published bid counts.
7+43% / 18%
Buyer: 12 of 28 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 33 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 buyer16 lots with estimate and award · all categories
50% below estimate
The market20 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · South West England
55% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate50% / 55%
Buyer: 8 of 16 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 20 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%31% / 35%
Buyer: 5 of 16 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 20 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate19% / 10%
Buyer: 3 of 16 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 20 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 4860 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£2.0m

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 48. The comparison uses that group.

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 33 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet12% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 33 similar lots
1 bid12%
4 of 33 similar past lots received 1 bid (12%).
2–324%
8 of 33 similar past lots received 2–3 (24%).
4–645%
15 of 33 similar past lots received 4–6 (45%).
7+18%
6 of 33 similar past lots received 7+ (18%).
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £2.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
7 Apr 2026, 17:39 BST
Last source update
7 Apr 2026, 17:39 BST
Authority reference
C436804
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-031673
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Software package and information systems
Delivery area
South West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067d67 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

7 Apr 2026 → 1 Jun 2028 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published201 days ago
    7 Apr 2026, 17:39 BST
  2. Market engagement184 days ago
    24 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    The Trust wishes to engage with interested suppliers through an Expression of Interest and the completion of a Supplier Questionnaire.

    Please visit atamis to access the following documents and submit a response:

    Pre-Market Engagement Invitation

    Pre-Market Engagement Supplier Questionnaire

    Atamis: health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗

    Submission deadline: 5pm 24 April 2026

    Following completion of the Pre‑Market Engagement Questionnaire the Authority may invite a limited number of suppliers (up to six) to optional 1‑to‑1 meetings.

    These meetings form part of PME and are intended solely to improve the Authority’s understanding of the market, solution options, risks and opportunities.

  3. Tender notice expected85 days ago
    1 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    25 Oct 2026
  5. Contract starts
    1 Jun 2028, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    7 Apr 2026, 17:39 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

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PNWR-4212-QWHQ Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, South West, TA1 5DAContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure