Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 8 Jan 2026, 11:23 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Home Office - System Design Services Strategic Partner

Authority: Home Office (Central government)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£80,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 3 Aug 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Jan 2030 · up to 28 Feb 2031 with extensions · starts 1 Feb 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement Notice (PMEN) is being issued by the Home Office (the Authority) to notify the market of a Market Engagement Event seeking views and feedback in relation to the potential procurement for a strategic system design partner to support the System Design Unit, a division within Migration and Borders Group within Home Office. The provision of service should cover access to a range of skillsets and capabilities to enable delivery of system design outcomes and to provide more flexibility than current resourcing models. These skillsets and capabilities are usually found within Design Lead, Business Architect, and Business Analysts roles. In addition, there may be a requirement for optional services covering: consultancy, planning and recruit-train-deploy services.

CPV: Business and management consultancy and related services · Business and management consultancy services · Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security · Design consultancy services · General management consultancy services · Human resources management consultancy services · Management-related services · Placement services of personnel · Recruitment services · Supply services of personnel including temporary staff · Systems consultancy services · Training services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Home Office buys Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941), and who usually turns up

Home Office’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: Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerHome Office · division 79
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: 13 of 22 known-size awards · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=826
59%56%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no winner locations published · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=701
—52%

No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in 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: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=159
—33 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 33 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 20 of 31 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=1,237
65%47%

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 buyer5 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 79
0% had one bid
The market279 lots with bid counts · CPV 7941 · UK-wide
16% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 16%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 44 of 279 lots with published bid counts.
2–320% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 56 of 279 lots with published bid counts.
4–660% / 24%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 68 of 279 lots with published bid counts.
7+20% / 40%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 111 of 279 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 buyer35 lots with estimate and award · all categories
46% below estimate
The market239 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7941 · UK-wide
43% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate46% / 43%
Buyer: 16 of 35 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 102 of 239 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%34% / 48%
Buyer: 12 of 35 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 115 of 239 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 9%
Buyer: 7 of 35 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 22 of 239 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 794136 monthsPublished estimate£80m
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 279 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet16% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 279 similar lots
1 bid16%
44 of 279 similar past lots received 1 bid (16%).
2–320%
56 of 279 similar past lots received 2–3 (20%).
4–624%
68 of 279 similar past lots received 4–6 (24%).
7+40%
111 of 279 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £80m, 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
Services
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, 11:23 GMT
Last source update
27 Mar 2026, 10:57 GMT
Authority reference
Proj_19546
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-028392
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Business and management consultancy and related servicesBusiness and management consultancy servicesBusiness services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and securityDesign consultancy servicesGeneral management consultancy servicesHuman resources management consultancy servicesManagement-related servicesPlacement services of personnelRecruitment servicesSupply services of personnel including temporary staff
+2 moreSystems consultancy servicesTraining services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0601b4 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

8 Jan 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published291 days ago
    8 Jan 2026, 11:23 GMT
  2. Latest notice published213 days ago
    27 Mar 2026, 10:57 GMT
  3. Market engagement167 days ago
    11 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    The virtual engagement event will start 11am on Thursday, 16 April 2026 where we will present our requirements and initial thinking. We expect the engagement session to last no more than 1 hour, consisting of a presentation followed by Q&A session. We will also be providing all participants with a Market Sounding Questionnaire after the session, which will give suppliers the opportunity to ask clarification questions and provide feedback on the proposed requirement and procurement process. We reserve the right to hold further engagement sessions or to follow-up with additional questions / clarifications to supplier responses.

    Please contact [email protected] by 5pm on Tuesday 14 April 2026 to register your interest in this event.

    This Market Engagement does not formally signify the beginning of any procurement exercise by the Authority, nor does it constitute a commitment by the Authority to undertake a procurement. In the event that the Authority decides to formally commence a procurement pursuant to this Market Engagement, then a separate Tender Notice will be published.

  4. Tender notice expected83 days ago
    3 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Today
    26 Oct 2026
  6. Contract startsin 98 days
    1 Feb 2027

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 8 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    8 Jan 2026, 11:23 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    27 Mar 2026, 10:57 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

Home Office

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PWGC-6513-PQLZ 2 Marsham Street, London, London, SW1P 4DFContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure