Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 21 Apr 2026, 09:00 BST

Official UK procurement notice

PDSE Patient Management System

Authority: University of Plymouth (Education)

GoodsAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£330,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 30 Jun 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 28 Feb 2030 · up to 28 Feb 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Expression of Interest to procure a Patient Management System for the University of Plymouth (Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise – PDSE).

CPV: Administration software package · Dental practice and related services · Document creation, drawing, imaging, scheduling and productivity software package · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · IT software development services · Imaging equipment for medical, dental and veterinary use · Industry specific software development services · Industry specific software package · Medical imaging services · Medical software development services · Medical software package · Medical solutions · +4 more

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How University of Plymouth buys Industry specific software package (CPV 4810), and who usually turns up

University of Plymouth’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Industry specific software package (CPV 4810) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUniversity of Plymouth · division 48
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: 3 of 6 known-size awards · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=152
50%34%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

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.

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 of 9 known-location awards · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=147
89%20%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=14
—42 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 42 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 6 of 10 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=284
60%71%

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 buyerToo few to chart: 4 lots with bid counts, 5 needed · all categories
The market23 lots with bid counts · CPV 4810 · UK-wide
17% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid17%
Market: 4 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
2–335%
Market: 8 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
4–635%
Market: 8 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
7+13%
Market: 3 of 23 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 buyerToo few to chart: 1 lot with estimate and award, 5 needed · broad CPV 48
The market12 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4810 · UK-wide
75% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate75%
Market: 9 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%17%
Market: 2 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate8%
Market: 1 of 12 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 722136 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£330k

This lot is listed as CPV 7221. The table above uses the notice category.

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 81 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet4% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 81 similar lots
1 bid4%
3 of 81 similar past lots received 1 bid (4%).
2–333%
27 of 81 similar past lots received 2–3 (33%).
4–633%
27 of 81 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+30%
24 of 81 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £330k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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
Goods
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
21 Apr 2026, 09:00 BST
Last source update
21 Apr 2026, 09:00 BST
Authority reference
SH_UOP_PatientManagement_136_25
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-035873
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Administration software packageDental practice and related servicesDocument creation, drawing, imaging, scheduling and productivity software packageIT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportIT software development servicesImaging equipment for medical, dental and veterinary useIndustry specific software development servicesIndustry specific software packageMedical imaging servicesMedical software development services
+6 moreMedical software packageMedical solutions
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0686de Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

21 Apr 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published186 days ago
    21 Apr 2026, 09:00 BST
  2. Market engagement170 days ago
    6 May 2026, 23:59 BST
  3. Tender notice expected115 days ago
    30 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    24 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 128 days
    1 Mar 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    21 Apr 2026, 09:00 BST
    UK2

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

University of Plymouth

Contracting authorityPublic undertaking GB-PPON: PQHL-4825-PGGL Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, South West, PL4 8AAContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure