Official UK procurement notice
Integrated Core Systems (ICS)
Authority: North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNorth West Ambulance Service NHS Trust ("the Trust") is preparing to undertake a procurement for a single Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system supporting 999, 111 and Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS), together with an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) solution for frontline clinicians and clinicians treating patients remotely. The EPR may be provided either as a fully integrated element of the CAD system or as a separate, interoperable solution.
The scale and scope of this requirement represent a significant opportunity for the health systems market to contribute to the unification of emergency care services within a coherent framework, supporting operational efficiency and improved patient outcomes. Before initiating any procurement, the Trust intends to engage with the market to discuss a range of key topics, including those criteria considered critical to the success of any future procurement.
The Trust is conducting preliminary market engagement to:
- Test the feasibility of requirements
- Understand delivery models
- Understand record management and privacy monitoring capabilities
- Refine our procurement strategy
- Refine cost estimates and timelines
- Develop our specification
- Inform our outline business case
Purpose:
A unified, resilient CAD and EPR platform that manages the full patient and incident lifecycle from call intake through each care scenario including hear and treat, dispatch, see and treat and see and convey, clinical handover and post event reporting while meeting NHS security, information governance and availability expectations. The joint solution must minimise duplication, improve clinical safety, and provide real time information flow between control room operations and all care scenarios and locations.
What we are (likely) procuring:
- A computer aided dispatch and patient care record solution which can support all three service lines (999, 111, NEPTS)
- Implementation and migration services
- Training and change support
- Interoperability/integration capability (APIs, messaging, etc.)
- Ongoing support/managed service options (if applicable)
Indicative Contract Dates:
- Contract Award: October 2027
- Contract Start Date (start of implementation period): November 2027
- Contract Go Live (following implementation): June 2029
- End of initial 7 year contract term: June 2036
- End of maximum 10 year contract life: June 2039
- Contract length will be 7+1+1+1 (maximum 10 years) following Contract Go Live.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust’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: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →
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 North West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West England.
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.
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.
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.
1 bid43% / 12%
2–343% / 21%
4–614% / 31%
7+0% / 36%
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 estimate52%
Within ±2%29%
Above estimate19%
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 #1Published estimate£19m
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 67 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid12%
2–321%
4–631%
7+36%
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
- 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
- 15 May 2026, 15:28 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Jul 2026, 15:09 BST
- Authority reference
NWAS-TR-16-26- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-062364- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069a3cFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
15 May 2026 → 1 Nov 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published159 days ago15 May 2026, 15:28 BST
- Latest notice published111 days ago2 Jul 2026, 15:09 BST
- Market engagement84 days ago29 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
To express an interest in this pre market engagement please email [email protected]. You will then be sent the pre market engagement questionnaire and invited to the open supplier briefing taking place on 10th July 2026.
Suppliers are invited to:
- Attend an open supplier briefing session: Friday 10th July 2026
Any suppliers who have expressed interest in this procurement by responding to either the UK1 Pipeline Notice or the UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement Notice by Thursday 9th July, will be automatically invited to this briefing session.
- Optionally participate in structured 1:1 sessions if required: These sessions will be considered if required and will be open from Monday 13th July to Friday 24th July
- Complete the Supplier Questionnaire in Part 2 of this document: Questionnaire responses must be submitted by email to [email protected] by 12:00 hours (noon) on Wednesday 29th July 2026
Indicative procurement timetable:
- Pre Market Engagement Opens: 2nd July 2026
- Indicative tender publication: April 2027
- Indicative contract award: October 2027
- Indicative go‑live window: June 2029
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 162 days1 Apr 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract startsin 375 days1 Nov 2027
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 15 May 2026- Pipeline notice published15 May 2026, 15:28 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Jul 2026, 15:09 BSTUK2
- Published value updated to £19,300,0002 Jul 2026, 15:09 BSTwas £19,326,703
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
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender