Official UK procurement notice
NEPO532 Financial Innovation and Digital Payments
Authority: The Association of North East Councils Limited (Local council)·Consortium: 3 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNEPO in collaboration with ESPO and YPO are seeking to establish a new solution in relation to the supply of Financial Innovation and Digital Payments. It is envisaged that the solution will comprise seven lots:
Lot 1 - Digital & Mobile Payments
Providing solutions for smartphone payments, mobile wallets, contactless transactions, QR code scanning, and peer-to-peer payment apps, enabling secure, convenient, and inclusive digital payment experiences.
Lot 2 - Data, Intelligence & Cloud Financial Solutions
Offering cloud-based platforms for accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and analytics, alongside market intelligence tools for spend analysis, tender alerts, and supplier risk assessment, driving efficiency and informed decision-making.
Lot 3 - Transport & Technology Payments
Delivering payment systems for public transport and mobility services, including automated fare collection, contactless transit payments, parking and toll solutions, and MaaS platforms to modernise transport infrastructure.
Lot 4 - Open Banking & API Services
Providing secure, API-driven payment initiation and account aggregation tools, enabling real-time financial data access and seamless integration with existing systems to support innovation and transparency.
Lot 5 - Payment Acceptance & Merchant Acquiring
Facilitating card-present and card-not-present payment processing, POS systems, online gateways, and merchant acquiring services to ensure secure, efficient revenue collection across multiple channels.
Lot 6- Bill Payment Solutions
Enabling secure, compliant collection of bills, rents, fees, and other receivables across online, mobile, direct debit, card, bank transfer, open banking, telephone/IVR, kiosk, and retail cash channels, integrating with core systems to provide reconciliation, real‑time visibility, and auditability for reliable, accessible income collection.
Lot 7 - Financial Innovation
Driving adoption of emerging technologies such as AI, embedded finance, RegTech, cryptocurrency management, and green finance initiatives, fostering innovation and future-ready financial ecosystems.
The above lot structure is indicative at this stage and is under ongoing development. It may be subject to change as NEPO, in collaboration with ESPO and YPO, continues to refine the scope of the solution.
•NEPO is a Centralised Procurement Authority as defined in the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23), providing central purchasing activity on behalf of Contracting Authorities.
•The agreement will be available to NEPO Member Authorities and all current and future Associate Members. Current Associate Members are listed in the Associate Member section of the NEPO website at: www.nepo.org/associate-members ↗
•NEPO intends to make the agreement available for use by all Contracting Authorities throughout all administrative regions of the UK (as defined by the Procurement Act 2023).
•A list of permissible users available at: www.nepo.org/associate-membership… ↗
•Organisations wishing to access the NEPO agreement will be required to register as a NEPO Associate Member in the first instance. Further information can be found at: www.nepo.org ↗
CPV: Financial and insurance services · Financial information systems · Magnetic cards
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 4 yrs · up to 6 yrs from 18 Jan 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat 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).
- “NEPO532 Financial Innovation and Digital Payments” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How The Association of North East Councils Limited buys Information systems (CPV 4881), and who usually turns up
The market side is the UK-wide market, including every region. The notice also lists overseas delivery. Compared with other frameworks and DPS only. Whole-market view: Information systems (CPV 4881) →
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 118 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.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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 bid16% / 19%
2–343% / 40%
4–619% / 14%
7+22% / 26%
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.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS: the price is set later, on each call-off.
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 4881Estimate not published
The notice lists UK and non-UK delivery areas for this lot. The figures below use UK market history and may not describe competition across every area.
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. Published delivery includes UK and non-UK areas, so the UK model may not describe every area. The bar shows 72 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid19%
2–340%
4–614%
7+26%
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- 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
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 16 Apr 2026, 09:37 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Apr 2026, 09:31 BST
- Authority reference
NEPO532- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-036407- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area in notice
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0683b3Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
16 Apr 2026 → 18 Jan 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published191 days ago16 Apr 2026, 09:37 BST
- Latest notice published185 days ago22 Apr 2026, 09:31 BST
- Market engagement116 days ago30 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
NEPO intends to hold meetings with interested suppliers via Microsoft Teams during the period from May to June 2026. A presentation will be given by NEPO and there will be an opportunity to ask questions in the session. Time slots will be provided to those whom express an interest in attending a session by contacting [email protected]. Attendance at the Microsoft Teams meeting is optional and does not provide suppliers with an advantage in any future related procurement.
Attendance also does not constitute as an intention to tender for any future related procurement. Please note the above information may be subject to change and is indicative only.
NEPO also intend to publish a preliminary market engagement questionnaire via Open e-Tendering system www.open-uk.org ↗ . The questionnaire responses will help NEPO design the framework by providing the level of market interest and provide insight from suppliers on the shaping of the future provision. The questionnaire will be made accessible via the Open e-Tendering system during market engagement.
Suppliers wishing to access and complete the questionnaire must first register on the e-Tendering system using the following link open-uk.org ↗
For guidance on how to create an account or submit your questionnaire response through Open, please visit www.open-hub.org/training ↗
To access the available Training Guides. If you need technical assistance from the Open Support team, this can be requested via [email protected].
PLEASE NOTE: Open is accessible 24/7 however, technical support is available Monday to Thursday 08:30 - 17:00 and Friday 08:30 - 16:30.
- Tender notice expected93 days ago23 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today24 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 85 days18 Jan 2027
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 Apr 2026- Pipeline notice published16 Apr 2026, 09:37 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Apr 2026, 09:31 BSTUK2
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
3 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Leicestershire County Council, trading as ESPOContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
- Yorkshire Purchasing OrganisationContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender