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Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 22 Sept 2026, 15:18 BST

Official UK procurement notice

ID 6617419 Department of Finance Departmental Solicitors Office DSO Legal Case Management System

Official notice
Competition analysis

Authority: Department of Finance (Central government)·Procurement run by: CPD - Supplies and Services Division

ServicesBelow threshold
Sectors: Software Packages & ERP (48)Repair & Maintenance (50)Postal and telecommunications services (64)
+2 moreIT Services & Software (72)Business Services & Consultancy (79)
 Delivery: Northern Ireland (UKN)
Planned pipeline value£1pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 30 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 30 Apr 2031 · up to 31 Mar 2034 with extensions · starts 1 May 2027
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

The Department of Finance, Department Solicitors Office (DSO) is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to establish a contract with a Supplier to provide a Case Management System. The potential scale and scope of this service is such that it offers a significant opportunity to bidders.

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Department of Finance, Department Solicitors Office (DSO) is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to establish a contract with a Supplier to provide a Case Management System. The potential scale and scope of this service is such that it offers a significant opportunity to bidders. Prior to initiating the procurement DSO wishes to establish the level of market interest in participating in the procurement process.

CPV: Electronic information services · Legal services · Maintenance and repair of office machinery · Repair services of personal computers · Software package and information systems · Software programming and consultancy services

More open work like this

Other notices open now · live search, filters set

Open tenders from Department of FinanceSearch filtered to this authorityOpen tenders in Legal servicesSearch filtered to CPV 7910

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 4 yrs
Contract period: 1 May 2027 – 30 Apr 2031 (4 yrs) · up to 31 Mar 2034 with extensions
Delivery: Northern Ireland
Extensions: Extension options published
48000000 Software package and information systems50310000 Maintenance and repair of office machinery50321000 Repair services of personal computers64216200 Electronic information services72200000 Software programming and consultancy services79100000 Legal services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Department of Finance buys Legal services (CPV 7910), and who usually turns up

Department of Finance’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: Legal services (CPV 7910) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerDepartment of Finance · division 79
The marketLegal services (CPV 7910)
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Buyer: 1 of 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 7910 · Northern Ireland, n=6
20%83%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Northern Ireland.

Buyer: 2 of 10 known-location awards · market: CPV 7910 · Northern Ireland, n=6
20%83%

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

How long to a decision?
i
Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7910 · Northern Ireland, n=5
—54 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 54 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Buyer: exactly 2 of 3 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7910 · UK-wide, n=336
2 of 360%

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
This buyer10 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 79
50% had one bid
The market10 lots with bid counts · CPV 7910 · Northern Ireland
10% had one bid
% of lots with a published bid count: this buyer (10) / the market (10) · select a colour for counts
1 bid50% / 10%
Buyer: 5 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
2–320% / 60%
Buyer: 2 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
4–60% / 20%
Buyer: 0 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 10 lots with published bid counts.
7+30% / 10%
Buyer: 3 of 10 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 10 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i
This buyer10 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 79
0% below estimate
The market35 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7910 · UK-wide
20% below estimate
% of lots with an estimate and award: this buyer (10) / the market (35) · select a colour for counts
Below estimate0% / 20%
Buyer: 0 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 35 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%100% / 57%
Buyer: 10 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 20 of 35 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 23%
Buyer: 0 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 35 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 642148 monthsNo real estimate

This lot is listed as CPV 6421. The table above uses the notice category.

Expected competition
i

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 13 past lots.

—No model forecast yet46% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 13 similar lots
1 bid46%
6 of 13 similar past lots received 1 bid (46%).
2–354%
7 of 13 similar past lots received 2–3 (54%).
4–60%
0 of 13 similar past lots received 4–6 (0%).
7+0%
0 of 13 similar past lots received 7+ (0%).
Check who supplied similar work and whether the route limits bidders.
Commercial price forecast
i

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

—No real estimate
The buyer published £1 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see 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
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
22 Sept 2026, 15:18 BST
Last source update
6 Oct 2026, 14:30 BST
Authority reference
ID 6617419
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-094314
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Electronic information servicesLegal servicesMaintenance and repair of office machineryRepair services of personal computersSoftware package and information systemsSoftware programming and consultancy services
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0777c3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

22 Sept 2026 → 1 May 2027 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published51 days ago
    22 Sept 2026, 15:18 BST
  2. Latest notice published37 days ago
    6 Oct 2026, 14:30 BST
  3. Market engagement20 days ago
    23 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    The objectives of this market engagement exercise are to:

    • gain initial supplier awareness, engagement and opinion
    • provide confidence around viability of concept
    • gain insight to the market possibilities and potential innovative solutions
    • understand risks and issues not previously considered
    • inform the Outline Business Case; and
    • inform any necessary Procurement Strategy.

    If you wish to participate in the Contracting Authority's Preliminary Market Engagement for this requirement, a questionnaire for completion is available via eTendersNI under ID 6617419.

    The questionnaire must be completed and submitted via eTendersNI by the engagement deadline date and time detailed above.

    In addition, depending on the volume of responses, the Department of Finance may wish to follow up the questionnaire with online meetings with respondents. Further detail is included within the PME Questionnaire and Associated documents.

    The PME questionnaire and associated documents are available with unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: URL etendersni.gov.uk ↗

  4. Today
    13 Nov 2026
  5. Tender notice expectedin 17 days
    30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  6. Contract startsin 168 days
    1 May 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 22 Sept 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    22 Sept 2026, 15:18 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Oct 2026, 14:30 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

The deadline for return of pme submissions has been extended.

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

2 public bodies on the notice

Department of Finance

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PVTL-7513-YWVJ Clare House 303 Airport Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT3 9EDContact email

Other public bodies

  • CPD - Supplies & Services DivisionProcess contact pointProcuring entityConstruction and Procurement Delivery - Supplies and Services Division, is a Centre of Procurement Expertise and provides a central procurement function for central government in Northern IrelandGB-PPON: PVWG-8426-YWXV Belfast, Northern IrelandContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure