Official UK procurement notice
Pilot for Voting Hub 2026 Elections
Authority: Milton Keynes Council (Local council)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionMilton Keynes City Council will be conducting a Direct award contract to Civica, for the required software development of:
- (a) Civica Polling Station (CPS), on behalf of Milton Keynes City Council and Redditch Borough Council 2026 elections ; and
- (b) Xpress Electoral Management Software (EMS) for all Civica EMS clients, participating in election pilots in local elections.
Civica’s software development of Xpress EMS and CPS will help local authorities to deliver “Advanced voting in hubs and on the day voting hubs” to achieve the pilots aim to modernise the voting experience by introducing greater flexibility, improving accessibility, and enhancing voter satisfaction while safeguarding the integrity, security, and transparency of the democratic process.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 3 Mar 2026, 15:55 GMT
- Last source update
- 30 Jul 2026, 11:01 BST
- Authority reference
2025-308- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-072059- Latest notice
- Contract termination notice (UK11)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06615eFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Unique Work Art Performance
- Published justification
It is considered that the Council can directly award a contract to develop the software for flexible voting pilots under the prototypes and development justification (Schedule 5 paragraphs 2 and 3). This justification may be used to directly award a contract where:
The public contract concerns the production of a prototype or supply of other goods or services for the purposes of testing the suitability of the goods or services or researching the viability of producing or supplying the goods or services at scale and developing them for that purpose, or other research, experiment, study or development.
The novel goods or services are goods or services designed or developed at the request of the contracting authority.
The required software is a novel and will allow the Council, other local authorities participating in the trial and central government to test the suitability of the software as well as ability to deliver the flexible models for future elections. The required software is not currently available in the market and therefore competitive tendering is not feasible. The software development is being made at the request of the Council as required by regulation 5 of PA23
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
26 Mar 2026 → 30 Jul 2026 · 2 dates- Standstill ends214 days ago26 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Notice published88 days ago30 Jul 2026, 11:01 BST
Notice history
6 events · 5 releases on Find a Tender · since 3 Mar 2026- Transparency notice published3 Mar 2026, 15:55 GMTUK5
- Contract award notice published16 Mar 2026, 14:36 GMTUK6
- Contract signature expected27 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published9 Apr 2026, 08:36 BSTUK7
- Contract details notice published9 Apr 2026, 08:48 BSTUK7
- Contract termination notice published30 Jul 2026, 11:01 BSTUK11
Routine re-releases (5)
- 2026-03: 2 releases · 3 Mar 2026, 16 Mar 2026
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIVICA UK LIMITED1 Apr 2026 – 30 Jun 2026 | £1,100,000 | 16 Mar 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Pilot for Voting Hub 2026 Elections · CIVICA UK LIMITED
- Signed
- 27 Mar 2026
- Value
- £1,027,841
- Period
- 1 Apr 2026 – 30 Jun 2026
- Status
- terminated
- Final value
- £1,027,841
- Termination
- contractCompleted
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Redditch Borough CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Civica UK LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract termination notice Contract termination notice on Find a Tender
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender