Official UK procurement notice
Investment Zone Scoping – Higher Skills Capacity Evaluation
Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is made up of 18 local councils, working together to make the West Midlands the best place to live, work and visit. Our priorities include homes, jobs, transport and growth for everyone. As an organisation, we're focused on making life better for people in the West Midlands. To achieve this, WMCA, working with partners as part of the West Midlands Investment Zone, is developing a specification to assess the capacity and capability of local skills and education providers to deliver high level skills and qualifications across several identified sectors and clusters.
The WMCA is seeking to commission an evaluation of the current Skills Delivery Capacity with a focus on its Investment Zones during 2026. The purpose of the commission will be to understand and assess what the current skills capacity is to deliver high level skills that will support Investment Zone (IZ) aims and objectives as well as wider aspirations within the WMCA Growth Plan.
Furthermore, it is intended that when WMCA do approach the market, the successful supplier will:
- Assess and identify how the current skills ecosystem and training delivery capacity can be strengthened.
- Outline how WMCA can enhance collaboration among Further Education (FE), Higher Education (HE), and private providers to meet industry needs reducing fragmentation and inefficient engagement.
- Assess the current higher-level skills offer in the region at Level 4 and Level 5 training providers and with particular reference to the identified WM clusters.
- Design and produce a mechanism for providing ongoing periodic assessment of this landscape to understand where gaps are reducing, being maintained or increasing and make recommendations accordingly.
CPV: Evaluation consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Midlands Combined Authority buys Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941), and who usually turns up
West Midlands Combined Authority’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: Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) →
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 West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside West Midlands.
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 68 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.
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 bid20% / 15%
2–30% / 22%
4–660% / 26%
7+20% / 37%
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 estimate36% / 35%
Within ±2%50% / 60%
Above estimate14% / 5%
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 7941Published estimate£150k
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 27 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid15%
2–322%
4–626%
7+37%
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
- 12 Jan 2026, 12:21 GMT
- Last source update
- 12 Jan 2026, 12:21 GMT
- Authority reference
PRT-SKILLS-DCG-2025-0002- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-002239- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06039eFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
12 Jan 2026 → 1 May 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published283 days ago12 Jan 2026, 12:21 GMT
- Market engagement271 days ago23 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
To participate in this engagement process, please register your interest on our new Proactis procurement platform using the link below:
procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View ↗
Once registered, you will receive access to additional information and the questionnaire. Please ensure the completed questionnaire is submitted by 23 January 2026 at 23:59.
WMCA may invite you to participate in a face-to-face meeting or Teams call to further discuss your response. If so, you will receive communication via the Proactis Portal.
Please note, this is not a formal PQQ or expression of interest in a tender exercise. This Pre-Market Engagement is to be used purely by the WMCA to provide potential delivery partners with more information about WMCA’s plans for an online engagement platform.
The WMCA will not be liable for costs incurred by an interested party participating in this exercise.
- Tender notice expected234 days ago1 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts174 days ago1 May 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published12 Jan 2026, 12:21 GMTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender