Official UK procurement notice
Online Engagement Platform · West Midlands Combined Authority (Dec 2025)
Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is made up of 18 local councils, working together to make the West Midlands the best place to live, work and visit. Our priorities include homes, jobs, transport and growth for everyone. As an organisation, we're focused on making life better for people in the West Midlands. To achieve this, we need to work with communities to understand their lives, explore their aspirations for the future, and collaborate on potential solutions. When individuals have power over their personal circumstances, they can shape the places they live and spend time in. Those who actively participate in shaping their communities will feel a greater sense of belonging. An online engagement platform is a crucial mechanism for enabling us to build stronger, more inclusive, and more effective governance that truly meets the needs of our community. The right platform will allow us to increase research and accessibility, enhance transparency and trust, support resident-led decision-making, and foster community collaboration.
We are seeking to gain a greater understanding of suppliers within the market, who would be interested in responding to the upcoming release of the specification of requirements. We plan to use the information gathered in this exercise to inform and help develop our procurement strategy before approaching the market for a full procurement exercise in early 2026.
CPV: Software programming and consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Midlands Combined Authority buys Software programming and consultancy services (CPV 7220), and who usually turns up
West Midlands 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: Software programming and consultancy services (CPV 7220) →
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.
Here, local means registered in West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside West Midlands.
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 68 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 bid17% / 20%
2–325% / 13%
4–650% / 20%
7+8% / 47%
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 estimate36% / 40%
Within ±2%50% / 30%
Above estimate14% / 30%
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 7220Published 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. The bar shows 60 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid15%
2–328%
4–632%
7+25%
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonplace Digital LtdEarlier contract | Online Engagement Platformended Sept 2026 | — | £25k | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
100% title match.
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.
100% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (100% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Online Engagement Platform — held by Commonplace Digital Ltd; the published contract ends 30 Sept 2026.
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
- 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
- 23 Dec 2025, 08:22 GMT
- Last source update
- 23 Dec 2025, 08:22 GMT
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-085621- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05fc12Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
23 Dec 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published303 days ago23 Dec 2025, 08:22 GMT
- Market engagement285 days ago9 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
To participate in this engagement process, please register your interest on our new Proactis procurement platform using the link below:
procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗
Once registered, you will receive access to additional information and the questionnaire. Please ensure the completed questionnaire is submitted by 09 January 2026 at 23:59.
WMCA may invite you to participate in a face-to-face meeting or Teams call to further discuss your response. If so, you will receive communication via the Proactis Portal.
Please note, this is not a formal PQQ or expression of interest in a tender exercise. This Pre-Market Engagement is to be used purely by the WMCA to provide potential delivery partners with more information about WMCA’s plans for an online engagement platform.
The WMCA will not be liable for costs incurred by an interested party participating in this exercise.
- Tender notice expected268 days ago26 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts204 days ago1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published23 Dec 2025, 08:22 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