Official UK procurement notice
ID 6794091 - Preliminary Market Engagement - Provision of Hydrometric Supplies, Services and Training
Authority: Department for Infrastructure (Central government)·On behalf of: CPD
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department for Infrastructure Rivers (DFI-Rivers Hydrometric Section) is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to establish a contract with a Supplier to provide hydrometrics equipment and services. The Supplier will be required provide a bespoke dedicated web-based hosting service for the storage, presentation and retrieval of measured environmental data. Prior to initiating the competitive tendering process, the Department for Infrastructure Rivers wishes to establish the level of market interest in participating in the competitive tendering process.
This exercise is being used to determine the potential for any possible future contracts and their estimated value. This market sounding does not guarantee the commencement of a commercial competition resulting in monetary income or future outlay.
**PLEASE NOTE: ALL COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRES MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA THE MESSAGING FUNCTION on eTendersNI, BEFORE 15:00 on the 10th of November 2026.
CPV: Hydrometeorology services · Hydrometers · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Information systems or technology strategic review services · Internet services · Web page editing software development services · Web server software development services · World wide web (www) site design services · World wide web (www) site operation host services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Infrastructure buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up
Department for Infrastructure’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: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 Northern Ireland.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Northern Ireland.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 29 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid9% / 17%
2–315% / 17%
4–626% / 17%
7+50% / 50%
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.
Below estimate16% / 46%
Within ±2%76% / 34%
Above estimate8% / 20%
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.
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 7221No real estimate
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 54 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid28%
2–337%
4–620%
7+15%
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.
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.
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.
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
- 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
- 21 Oct 2026, 11:02 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Oct 2026, 11:02 BST
- Authority reference
ID 6794091- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-099349- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078c90Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
21 Oct 2026 → 1 Feb 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice publishedearlier today21 Oct 2026, 11:02 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 16 days6 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
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 6794091
The questionnaire must be completed and submitted via eTendersNI by the engagement deadline date and time detailed above.
The PME questionnaire and associated documents are available with unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: URL etendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
- Tender notice expectedin 166 days5 Apr 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 Feb 2028
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 Oct 2026, 11:02 BSTUK2
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
3 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- CPDBeneficiary authority
- Construction and Procurement Delivery - Supplies and 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 Ireland.
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