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Published 29 Jul 2026, 17:28 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Market Engagement - South Yorkshire Digital Pay as You Go Ticketing Trial

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Office and computing machinery, equipment and supplies except furniture and software packages (30)Transport Equipment & Vehicles (34)Transport & Passenger Services (60) Delivery: Yorkshire & Humber (UKE3)
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 31 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 10 moends 31 Aug 2027 · up to 31 Aug 2032 with extensions · starts 2 Nov 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This soft market testing exercise is issued by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to inform the development of a future procurement strategy for a South Yorkshire Digital Pay as You Go Ticketing Trial.

The Authority is seeking input from organisations with relevant experience in delivering multi-modal Digital Pay as You Go Ticketing applications.

Further information and instructions about the market engagement, our requirements and intention is in the procurement document.

CPV: Automatic fare collection · Road transport services · Transport tickets

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 10 moSMEVCSE
Contract period: 2 Nov 2026 – 31 Aug 2027 (10 mo) · up to 31 Aug 2032 with extensions
Delivery: Yorkshire & HumberEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
30144400 Automatic fare collection34980000 Transport tickets60100000 Road transport services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority buys Transport tickets (CPV 3498), and who usually turns up

South Yorkshire Mayoral 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: Transport tickets (CPV 3498) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerSouth Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority · division 34
The marketTransport tickets (CPV 3498) · Yorkshire and the Humber
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 10 known-size awards · market: division 34 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=128
0%45%

No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample. Small firms win less of this buyer’s work than the market’s: 0% against 45%, n=10.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Yorkshire and the Humber.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 11 known-location awards · market: division 34 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=211
9%16%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Yorkshire and the Humber.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 23 decided notices · market: division 34 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=24
35 days48 days

Half of these awards were announced within 35 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 10 of 12 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 34 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=226
83%54%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer24 lots with bid counts · all categories
4% had one bid
The market33 lots with bid counts · division 34 · Yorkshire and the Humber
33% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid4% / 33%
Buyer: 1 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 33 lots with published bid counts.
2–321% / 27%
Buyer: 5 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 33 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 30%
Buyer: 8 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 33 lots with published bid counts.
7+42% / 9%
Buyer: 10 of 24 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 33 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer20 lots with estimate and award · all categories
50% below estimate
The market25 lots with estimate and award · division 34 · Yorkshire and the Humber
28% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate50% / 28%
Buyer: 10 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 25 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%45% / 40%
Buyer: 9 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 25 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate5% / 32%
Buyer: 1 of 20 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 25 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 349810 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published
Expected competition
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 33 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet33% single-bid risk
Past bids on 33 similar lots
1 bid33%
11 of 33 similar past lots received 1 bid (33%).
2–327%
9 of 33 similar past lots received 2–3 (27%).
4–630%
10 of 33 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+9%
3 of 33 similar past lots received 7+ (9%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

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.

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
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
29 Jul 2026, 17:28 BST
Last source update
11 Aug 2026, 14:30 BST
Authority reference
DN824069
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-076274
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Automatic fare collectionRoad transport servicesTransport tickets
Delivery area
Yorkshire & Humber (UKE3)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d6ff Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

29 Jul 2026 → 2 Nov 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published83 days ago
    29 Jul 2026, 17:28 BST
  2. Latest notice published70 days ago
    11 Aug 2026, 14:30 BST
  3. Market engagement63 days ago
    17 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST

    A Soft Market Testing Questionnaire is to be completed and a response is required via procontract.due-north.com ↗

  4. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  5. Tender notice expectedin 12 days
    31 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
  6. Contract startsin 13 days
    2 Nov 2026

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 29 Jul 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    29 Jul 2026, 17:28 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    11 Aug 2026, 14:30 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Submission date changed / extended.

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

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PDBT-6675-QXPN 11 Broad Street West, Sheffield, Yorkshire & Humber, S1 2BQContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure