Official UK procurement notice
ITT - Recruitment Applicant Tracking System - UID 390M
Authority: Historic England (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionHistoric England is seeking to procure a modern cloud-based Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to support end-to-end recruitment and talent attraction activities. Historic England is seeking a replacement solution that continues to support effective and inclusive recruitment, while offering a positive and straightforward experience for everyone involved in the recruitment process.
The new ATS must support high-volume and specialist recruitment, offer intuitive hiring manager and candidate experiences, facilitate inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, and provide robust reporting and analytics capabilities. The solution should integrate with key HR systems and support automation, workflow management, talent pooling, and compliance with UK employment and data protection requirements.
- How the procedure runs: Stage 1 ITT (to reduce number of suppliers to final top 4) - Stage 2 - Demonstration from final top 4
CPV: Maintenance of information technology software · Software implementation services · Software package and information systems · Software-related services · Time accounting or human resources software package
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£140,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published award criteria (2)
- Price
- Quality
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £93,163 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Historic England buys Time accounting or human resources software package (CPV 4845), and who usually turns up
Historic England’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: Time accounting or human resources software package (CPV 4845) →
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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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 the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South West England.
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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 18 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 bid31% / 14%
2–315% / 29%
4–615% / 24%
7+38% / 33%
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 estimate37% / 56%
Within ±2%53% / 28%
Above estimate9% / 17%
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 4845Published estimate£140k
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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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid41%
2–319%
4–619%
7+21%
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.
Based on 3 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£111k–£140k
Estimate£140k
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
Insight DirectLarge | £72m175 awards in 36m · last this month | 39 live · £28m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 21% below n=5 |
| £2.5m7 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 3 live · £189k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 30% below n=3 | |
| £978k6 awards in 36m · last 5 months ago | 2 live · £227k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 18% above n=3 | |
EARCU LTDLarge | £470k3 awards in 36m · last 6 months ago | 1 live · £177k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=1 |
| £784k7 awards in 36m · last 7 months ago | 4 live · £1.7m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 24% below n=4 |
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- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- 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
- 20 Oct 2026, 15:47 BST
- Last source update
- 20 Oct 2026, 15:47 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 2 Jan 2027
- Authority reference
PREF 00000639- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-099142- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078c23Find a Tender
- How it runs
Stage 1 ITT (to reduce number of suppliers to final top 4) - Stage 2 - Demonstration from final top 4
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via In-tend- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 14 Nov 2026, 09:30 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 9 Nov 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
20 Oct 2026 → 1 Jul 2027 · 5 dates- Tender notice published1 day ago20 Oct 2026, 15:47 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Clarification questions byin 19 days9 Nov 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 24 days14 Nov 2026, 09:30 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 74 days2 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 252 days1 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published20 Oct 2026, 15:47 BSTUK4
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- 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
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender