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Find a TenderAwarded without competitionContract award notice
Published 6 Aug 2026, 18:26 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Managed Service Desk & Infrastructure Management

Official notice

Authority: Watford Borough Council (Local council)

Direct award
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: East of England (UKH23)
Awarded value£919,665published award · exc. VAT
Award in standstill 1 Sept 2026no call for competition
Award (standstill) to LITTLE FISH (UK) LIMITED

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Continuation of Managed Service Desk, Infrastructure Management, and Service Management Office services.

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Awarded
Delivery: East of England
72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support72250000 System and support services72253000 Helpdesk and support services72253100 Helpdesk services

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Direct award
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Notice status
Awarded without competition
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Direct award (no call for competition)
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
6 Aug 2026, 18:26 BST
Last source update
20 Oct 2026, 16:19 BST
Authority reference
1056235015
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-099170
Latest notice
Contract award notice (UK6)
Delivery area
East of England (UKH23)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06de70 Find a Tender
Why no open competition
Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
Published justification

Littlefish has a deeply embedded understanding of the council's complex, multi site environment. This "embedded knowledge" is essential for maintaining the current technical architecture without disruption.

Within the LGR programme (Sub-workstream 7), work is already underway to design a new consolidated technology support service. Since WBC services will be dissolved and replaced post-vesting day, moving to a new provider now would result in redundant transition costs and a duplication of internal ICT resources.

Attempting a full-scale transition in parallel with the LGR technology workstream would risk a total failure of managed service desk and infrastructure support for critical sites and users.

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Oct 2026 → 29 Oct 2026 · 2 dates
  1. Notice published5 days ago
    20 Oct 2026, 16:19 BST
  2. Today
    25 Oct 2026
  3. Standstill endsin 4 days
    29 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 6 Aug 2026
  1. Transparency notice published
    6 Aug 2026, 18:26 BST
    UK5
  2. Contract award notice published
    20 Oct 2026, 16:19 BST
    UK6
  3. Contract signature expected
    30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
    scheduled

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1some still in standstill
Awarded value £919,6651 award exc. VAT
Awarded toValueDateStatus
LITTLE FISH (UK) LIMITED12 Nov 2026 – 4 Oct 2029£919,6651 Sept 2026standstill to 29 Oct 2026Standstill

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Watford Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PDGQ-4877-NMGQ Watford Borough Council, Town Hall, Watford, East of England, WD17 3EXContact name, email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • LITTLE FISH (UK) LIMITEDAwarded supplierGB-PPON: PNHR-7482-CPDL Price House, 37 Stoney Street, Nottingham, East Midlands, NG1 1LSContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender