Official UK procurement notice
MANAGED SERVICE PROVIDER FOR ADVERTISING ON THE TFL WEBSITE AND TFL GO APP
Authority: London Underground Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTransport for London (TfL) is seeking to appoint an experienced Managed Service Provider to oversee its online advertising concession and optimise revenue across its digital estate, specifically the TfL website (tfl.gov.uk) and the TfL Go mobile app. These platforms are central to TfL's digital engagement strategy, serving millions of Londoners and visitors with real-time travel information, journey planning tools, and account services.
The appointed partner will be responsible for managing and optimising digital advertising operations, including programmatic advertising via platforms such as Google Ad Manager 360, delivering high-quality direct sales, and identifying new monetisation opportunities. The service must balance commercial performance with user experience, brand safety, and full compliance with TfL's advertising policy and regulatory obligations.
Scope of the Opportunity
TfL is seeking a partner to provide a fully managed service for advertising on both the TfL website and TfL Go app:
TfL Website (tfl.gov.uk)
Based on the monthly averages from October 2024 to September 2025, the TfL website has delivered:
~6.6 million unique users
~15.5 million visits
~62.7 million page views
~41.4 million ad impressions
Additional performance insights:
Approximately 60% of pages are currently monetised, with scope to expand
Device breakdown: 76% mobile, 22% desktop, 2% tablet
Advertising formats include skins, billboards, leaderboards, mobile banners, and MPUs
Ad operations run via Google Ad Manager 360
Revenue model: Predominantly programmatic, with direct sales contributing an average of 24% of total revenue over the 12-month period from October 2024 to September 2025
Future enhancements under consideration include high-impact programmatic formats, as well as section-based and geo-specific sponsorships
TfL Go Mobile App
~1.4 million monthly unique users (as of Sep 2025)
~11.2 million monthly visits (average Oct 2024-Sep 2025)
~57 million monthly page views (average Oct 2024-Sep 2025), rising to ~77 million in recent months (Jul-Sep 2025)
Currently features Promoted Places, a venue tenancy model - the app's sole advertising format to date
Commercial opportunities include banner ads, splash ads, native formats, contextual advertising, geo-targeted notifications, and first-party data monetisation (subject to GDPR compliance)
Google Ad Manager SDK integration is required to enable programmatic display advertising
CPV: Advertising management 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 Transport for London buys Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934), and who usually turns up
Transport for London’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: Advertising and marketing services (CPV 7934) →
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.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in the delivery region.
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 103 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 buyer’s 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 bid45%
2–346%
4–68%
7+2%
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 estimate48%
Within ±2%32%
Above estimate20%
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 7934Published estimate£3.0m
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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. The bar shows 259 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid16%
2–322%
4–628%
7+34%
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
- Concession
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 27 Oct 2025, 16:45 GMT
- Last source update
- 27 Oct 2025, 16:45 GMT
- Authority reference
TFL 97019- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-068719- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d49eFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
27 Oct 2025 → 26 Nov 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published357 days ago27 Oct 2025, 16:45 GMT
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 17 days6 Nov 2026
- Market engagementin 38 days26 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Interested parties are asked to express their interest in taking part in this Early Market Engagement Exercise.
This exercise will include the completion of a short Market Sounding Questionnaire (MSQ).
Suppliers should confirm their interest in participating in this exercise by providing the following details via e-mail to
Organisation name
Main contact name and job title
e-mail address
MSQ's will be issued to interested parties with completion and return required by 17.00 hours GMT on 26th November 2025.
The MSQ responses will help TfL assess market appetite, refine its approach, and ensure the future concession is commercially viable, technically robust, and strategically aligned.
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Oct 2025, 16:45 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