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plannedFind a Tender · planning

Operations processing system (TOPS & POIS)

Buyer: Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd →

BuyerNetwork Rail Infrastructure Ltd
Statusplanned
DeadlineNot published
Value£16,000,000
Published23 Sept 2025

What is being bought

The TOPS and POIS Replacement Project is required to deliver a solution to replace in-use functionality of the existing application under the adoption of modern technologies, thus avoiding innovation limitation, technical debt, operational risk and extended support agreements for these two mission critical services. TOPS is a mainframe system procured by British Rail (BR) from Southern Pacific in the early 1970s. It is a complex, command-driven system, originally designed for the management and control of freight vehicles and trains to provide real-time information of the whereabouts, loading, consignee, condition, etc. of freight vehicles. Since the introduction of TOPS to BR, the system has been expanded to handle locomotive activities and information about loco-hauled passenger operations, via a sub-system named POIS. The average freight traffic is currently 500 trains per day but may increase going forward.

Delivery location

UK

Categories

Software package and information systems 48000000Industry specific software package 48100000Information technology services 72222300Industry specific software development services 72212100

Lot details

Lot 1

The TOPS and POIS Replacement Project is required to deliver a solution to replace in-use functionality of the existing application under the adoption of modern technologies, thus avoiding innovation limitation, technical debt, operational risk and extended support agreements for these two mission critical services. TOPS is a mainframe system procured by British Rail (BR) from Southern Pacific in the early 1970s. It is a complex, command-driven system, originally designed for the management and control of freight vehicles and trains to provide real-time information of the whereabouts, loading, consignee, condition, etc. of freight vehicles. Since the introduction of TOPS to BR, the system has been expanded to handle locomotive activities and information about loco-hauled passenger operations, via a sub-system named POIS. The average freight traffic is currently 500 trains per day but may increase going forward. Additional information: Network Rail are planning to issue an ITT via the competitive Flexible Procedure Q1/Q2 of 2026. This is a prior notice of our intent to issue the ITT.

Statusplanned

What is included

ItemCategoryQuantity
1Software package and information systems, Industry specific software package, Information technology servicesNot published

Comparable-procurement analytics

Benchmarked against retained Find a Tender procedures with CPV division 48. The category anchor is Software package and information systems (48000000); this is a deliberately broad market comparator. The comparison is shown at several levels rather than pretending one company or region is always the best benchmark.

Comparison setProceduresReported bids per procedureNamed award suppliersPrice evidence
Market: CPV division 483,0051 median · 6 average (966 of 3,005 with a bid count)1.5 average (1,080 of 3,005 with named award suppliers)Not published
Same buyer11 median · 1 average (1 of 1 with a bid count)1 average (1 of 1 with named award suppliers)Not published
Delivery region: UK7871 median · 9.1 average (225 of 787 with a bid count)2.3 average (262 of 787 with named award suppliers)Not published
Similar published value (0.5×–2×)104Not publishedNot publishedNot published

“Reported bids” is an official aggregate, sometimes reported per lot; it is the closest available competition measure. “Named award suppliers” are winners, not all applicants.

Price-outcome signal

Not enough comparable procedures currently publish both a GBP tender value and a usable lowest-valid-bid value to calculate a responsible price-reduction benchmark. Tenderline deliberately does not infer a saving from named award suppliers or from missing award values.

Procurement strategy & market signals

Framework agreementNot published
Dynamic purchasing systemNot published
Competitive procurementNot published
Recurring requirementNot published
Procurement method rationaleNot published
Rationale classificationsNot published
Special regimeNot published
Covered byNot published
Submission policyNot published
Selection criteriaNot published
Risk detailsNot published

Planning & early market engagement

BudgetNot published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Planning documents0
Planning milestones0

No planning milestones published.

Related procurements

No linked framework, prior procurement or reprocurement published.

Documents & submission route

No documents are published in the current source record.

Source data inventory

Diagnostic view. “Not published” means this current release does not provide a value.

OCIDocds-h6vhtk-059fe0
Latest release ID058785-2025
Latest release timestampTue Sep 23 2025 09:37:21 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Sourcefind-a-tender
Official notice URLNot published
Tender statusplanned
Procurement methodNot published
Procurement method detailsNot published
Main procurement categoryservices
Above thresholdNot published
Legal basis32014L0024
Tender period: startNot published
Tender period: endNot published
Expression of interest deadlineNot published
Enquiry deadlineNot published
Award period: startNot published
Award period: endNot published
Submission method detailsNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Electronic catalogue policyNot published
Total tender value£16,000,000
Tender lots in source1
Tender items in source1
Tender documents in source0
Awards in latest release0
Contracts in latest release0
Parties in latest release1

Notice history

DateEventReference
23 Sept 2025planning058785-2025

All source data

Unmodified official OCDS data retained by Tenderline for this procurement process.

Complete current OCDS release JSON
{
  "id": "058785-2025",
  "tag": [
    "planning"
  ],
  "date": "2025-09-23T10:37:21+01:00",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-059fe0",
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-FTS-79855",
    "name": "Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd"
  },
  "tender": {
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-059fe0",
    "lots": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "status": "planned",
        "description": "The TOPS and POIS Replacement Project is required to deliver a solution to replace in-use functionality of the existing application under the adoption of modern technologies, thus avoiding innovation limitation, technical debt, operational risk and extended support agreements for these two mission critical services.\nTOPS is a mainframe system procured by British Rail (BR) from Southern Pacific in the early 1970s. It is a complex, command-driven system, originally designed for the management and control of freight vehicles and trains to provide real-time information of the whereabouts, loading, consignee, condition, etc. of freight vehicles. Since the introduction of TOPS to BR, the system has been expanded to handle locomotive activities and information about loco-hauled passenger operations,\nvia a sub-system named POIS. The average freight traffic is currently 500 trains per day but may increase going forward. Additional information: Network Rail are planning to issue an ITT via the competitive Flexible Procedure Q1/Q2 of 2026.  This is a prior notice of our intent to issue the ITT."
      }
    ],
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "relatedLot": "1",
        "deliveryAddresses": [
          {
            "region": "UK"
          }
        ],
        "additionalClassifications": [
          {
            "id": "48000000",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Software package and information systems"
          },
          {
            "id": "48100000",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Industry specific software package"
          },
          {
            "id": "72222300",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Information technology services"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "title": "Operations processing system (TOPS & POIS)",
    "value": {
      "amount": 16000000,
      "currency": "GBP"
    },
    "status": "planned",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "32014L0024",
      "scheme": "CELEX"
    },
    "description": "The TOPS and POIS Replacement Project is required to deliver a solution to replace in-use functionality of the existing application under the adoption of modern technologies, thus avoiding innovation limitation, technical debt, operational risk and extended support agreements for these two mission critical services.\nTOPS is a mainframe system procured by British Rail (BR) from Southern Pacific in the early 1970s. It is a complex, command-driven system, originally designed for the management and control of freight vehicles and trains to provide real-time information of the whereabouts, loading, consignee, condition, etc. of freight vehicles. Since the introduction of TOPS to BR, the system has been expanded to handle locomotive activities and information about loco-hauled passenger operations, via a sub-system named POIS.  The average freight traffic is currently 500 trains per day but may increase going forward.",
    "communication": {
      "atypicalToolUrl": "https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/",
      "futureNoticeDate": "2025-08-21T00:00:00+01:00"
    },
    "classification": {
      "id": "72212100",
      "scheme": "CPV",
      "description": "Industry specific software development services"
    },
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services"
  },
  "parties": [
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-79855",
      "name": "Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UK",
        "locality": "London",
        "postalCode": "SE1 8SW",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Waterloo General Offices"
      },
      "details": {
        "url": "http://www.networkrail.co.uk",
        "buyerProfile": "https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/",
        "classifications": [
          {
            "id": "BODY_PUBLIC",
            "scheme": "TED_CA_TYPE",
            "description": "Body governed by public law"
          },
          {
            "id": "01",
            "scheme": "COFOG",
            "description": "General public services"
          }
        ]
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "name": "Brent Murgatroyd",
        "email": "brent.murgatroyd@networkrail.co.uk",
        "telephone": "+44 1908781000"
      }
    }
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "initiationType": "tender"
}
Complete JSON history (1 releases)
23 Sept 2025 · 058785-2025 · planning
{
  "id": "058785-2025",
  "tag": [
    "planning"
  ],
  "date": "2025-09-23T10:37:21+01:00",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-059fe0",
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-FTS-79855",
    "name": "Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd"
  },
  "tender": {
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-059fe0",
    "lots": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "status": "planned",
        "description": "The TOPS and POIS Replacement Project is required to deliver a solution to replace in-use functionality of the existing application under the adoption of modern technologies, thus avoiding innovation limitation, technical debt, operational risk and extended support agreements for these two mission critical services.\nTOPS is a mainframe system procured by British Rail (BR) from Southern Pacific in the early 1970s. It is a complex, command-driven system, originally designed for the management and control of freight vehicles and trains to provide real-time information of the whereabouts, loading, consignee, condition, etc. of freight vehicles. Since the introduction of TOPS to BR, the system has been expanded to handle locomotive activities and information about loco-hauled passenger operations,\nvia a sub-system named POIS. The average freight traffic is currently 500 trains per day but may increase going forward. Additional information: Network Rail are planning to issue an ITT via the competitive Flexible Procedure Q1/Q2 of 2026.  This is a prior notice of our intent to issue the ITT."
      }
    ],
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "relatedLot": "1",
        "deliveryAddresses": [
          {
            "region": "UK"
          }
        ],
        "additionalClassifications": [
          {
            "id": "48000000",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Software package and information systems"
          },
          {
            "id": "48100000",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Industry specific software package"
          },
          {
            "id": "72222300",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Information technology services"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "title": "Operations processing system (TOPS & POIS)",
    "value": {
      "amount": 16000000,
      "currency": "GBP"
    },
    "status": "planned",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "32014L0024",
      "scheme": "CELEX"
    },
    "description": "The TOPS and POIS Replacement Project is required to deliver a solution to replace in-use functionality of the existing application under the adoption of modern technologies, thus avoiding innovation limitation, technical debt, operational risk and extended support agreements for these two mission critical services.\nTOPS is a mainframe system procured by British Rail (BR) from Southern Pacific in the early 1970s. It is a complex, command-driven system, originally designed for the management and control of freight vehicles and trains to provide real-time information of the whereabouts, loading, consignee, condition, etc. of freight vehicles. Since the introduction of TOPS to BR, the system has been expanded to handle locomotive activities and information about loco-hauled passenger operations, via a sub-system named POIS.  The average freight traffic is currently 500 trains per day but may increase going forward.",
    "communication": {
      "atypicalToolUrl": "https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/",
      "futureNoticeDate": "2025-08-21T00:00:00+01:00"
    },
    "classification": {
      "id": "72212100",
      "scheme": "CPV",
      "description": "Industry specific software development services"
    },
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services"
  },
  "parties": [
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-79855",
      "name": "Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UK",
        "locality": "London",
        "postalCode": "SE1 8SW",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Waterloo General Offices"
      },
      "details": {
        "url": "http://www.networkrail.co.uk",
        "buyerProfile": "https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/",
        "classifications": [
          {
            "id": "BODY_PUBLIC",
            "scheme": "TED_CA_TYPE",
            "description": "Body governed by public law"
          },
          {
            "id": "01",
            "scheme": "COFOG",
            "description": "General public services"
          }
        ]
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "name": "Brent Murgatroyd",
        "email": "brent.murgatroyd@networkrail.co.uk",
        "telephone": "+44 1908781000"
      }
    }
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "initiationType": "tender"
}