Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 29 Jun 2026, 23:00 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Finance Solution · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Colchester City Council (Local council)

GoodsAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£576,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 1 Apr 2030 · up to 31 Mar 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Colchester City Council is currently looking to commission a supplier to provide a fully integrated finance system.

The council is issuing a Pre Market Engagement Notice to enable a full review of the options available within the market, before fully developing a solution to meet the future finance requirements of the council.

The purpose of the early engagement is to understand supplier capability against our proposed defined requirements and validate the feasibility of being able to deliver a fully integrated finance solution. The council is keen to assess the market to obtain a mature solution, which offers full assurance, and can offer a timely delivery approach.

The full scope is still being determined before a final specification is issued to the market.

This notice has been issued for Colchester City Council, but the future procurement may involve other Authorities in the north east region of Essex prior to the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) which is due to commence form 1st April 2028.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:

www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Colche… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/76M42H5JT2 ↗

CPV: Financial analysis and accounting software package · Financial information systems · Financial systems software package · Financial transaction processing and clearing-house services · Procurement software package · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Colchester City Council buys Financial analysis and accounting software package (CPV 4844), and who usually turns up

Colchester 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: Financial analysis and accounting software package (CPV 4844) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerColchester City 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: 6 of 10 known-size awards · market: CPV 4844 · East of England, n=13
60%15%

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 East of England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 4 known-location awards · market: CPV 4844 · East of England, n=16
2 of 46%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in East of 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: 3 decided notices · market: CPV 4844 · UK-wide, n=17
81 days52 days

Half of these awards were announced within 81 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.

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 2 of 10 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4844 · East of England, n=18
20%56%

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 buyer10 lots with bid counts · all categories
0% had one bid
The market32 lots with bid counts · CPV 4844 · UK-wide
13% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 13%
Buyer: 0 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
2–30% / 16%
Buyer: 0 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
4–680% / 41%
Buyer: 8 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
7+20% / 31%
Buyer: 2 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 32 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 buyer5 lots with estimate and award · all categories
60% below estimate
The market16 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4844 · UK-wide
56% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate60% / 56%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%20% / 31%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 13%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 16 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 484436 monthsPublished estimate£576k
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 45 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet18% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 45 similar lots
1 bid18%
8 of 45 similar past lots received 1 bid (18%).
2–327%
12 of 45 similar past lots received 2–3 (27%).
4–640%
18 of 45 similar past lots received 4–6 (40%).
7+16%
7 of 45 similar past lots received 7+ (16%).
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 £576k, 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
29 Jun 2026, 23:00 BST
Last source update
29 Jun 2026, 23:00 BST
Authority reference
0490-PA
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-060965
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Financial analysis and accounting software packageFinancial information systemsFinancial systems software packageFinancial transaction processing and clearing-house servicesProcurement software packageSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
East of England (UKH3)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06bf8f Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

29 Jun 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published114 days ago
    29 Jun 2026, 23:00 BST
  2. Market engagement100 days ago
    13 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST

    Interested Bidders should submit the Early Market Engagement Questionnaire by the deadline of 12:00 (noon) on 13th July 2026, which can be accessed at www.delta-esourcing.com ↗ and the access code to download the questionnaire is 76M42H5JT2, where further details relating to the councils scope and aspirations are provided. Following this an options appraisal will then be conducted, outlining all options to be considered (including the route to market), which will then be taken to the council's cabinet meeting in September 2026.

    The council is intending to appoint a 3 year contract (excluding implementation) with the further option of up to a 2 year extension which will be confirmed.

    The value and any dates submitted are purely indicative at this stage and are just for information to give an indication of the timescales and potential value of this project.

  3. Tender notice expected20 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    22 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 161 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    29 Jun 2026, 23:00 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

Colchester City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PCVM-1775-YNRP Rowan House, 33 Sheepen Road, Colchester, East of England, CO3 3WGContact email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure