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Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 26 Jan 2026, 15:53 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Pre market engagement-Understanding Rail Demand

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitable
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline value£7,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 30 Mar 2029 · up to 30 Mar 2032 with extensions · starts 31 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Network Rail is looking for a solution that will enable Network Rail and the rail industry to understand passenger movements across its Great Britain network and on all trains. The solution will provide high quality data on

passenger movements. We are keen to understand what systems, solutions and technologies exist that can provide us data on passenger movements.

At this point in time, we are not limited to any particular technology as this market engagement is designed to help us uncover market capability

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSME
Contract period: 31 Mar 2027 – 30 Mar 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 30 Mar 2032 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED buys IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72), and who usually turns up

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED’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: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED · division 72
The marketIT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) · Greater London (authority’s region)
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: 2 of 11 known-size awards · market: division 72 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=542
18%37%

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.

Here, local means registered in Greater London (authority’s region).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 1 known-location awards · market: division 72 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=624
0 of 143%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Greater London.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 20 decided notices · market: division 72 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=53
156 days67 days

Half of these awards were announced within 156 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 18 of 20 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 72 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=761
90%58%

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 buyer16 lots with bid counts · all categories
13% had one bid
The market90 lots with bid counts · division 72 · Greater London (authority’s region)
8% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 8%
Buyer: 2 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 90 lots with published bid counts.
2–350% / 32%
Buyer: 8 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 29 of 90 lots with published bid counts.
4–638% / 31%
Buyer: 6 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 28 of 90 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 29%
Buyer: 0 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 26 of 90 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 buyer6 lots with estimate and award · all categories
83% below estimate
The market68 lots with estimate and award · division 72 · Greater London (authority’s region)
40% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate83% / 40%
Buyer: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 27 of 68 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%0% / 40%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 27 of 68 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17% / 21%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 14 of 68 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 #124 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£7.0m
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 90 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 90 similar lots
1 bid8%
7 of 90 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–332%
29 of 90 similar past lots received 2–3 (32%).
4–631%
28 of 90 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+29%
26 of 90 similar past lots received 7+ (29%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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 £7.0m, 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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
British Telecommunications PlcEarlier contractUnderstanding Rail Demand through Mobile Network Datanotice published Dec 2022Provision of a solution for understanding rail demand using mobile network data£16mMatched 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.

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
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Utilities
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
26 Jan 2026, 15:53 GMT
Last source update
26 Jan 2026, 15:53 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-006783
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060ee1 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

26 Jan 2026 → 31 Mar 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published267 days ago
    26 Jan 2026, 15:53 GMT
  2. Market engagement234 days ago
    27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    To access the instruction/guidance on how to be a part of the initial Pre Market engagement and to access the Pre Market engagement support document please follow below link.

    networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/guest/go/opport… ↗

    OR

    networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/toolkit/opportu… ↗

    60709/detail.si

    Alternatively, you may log out of Bravo and click on "current opportunities" on bottom left of Bravo page. Search for the opportunity in the search bar and it will take you to the same place as the links shared above. If error still persists then please contact Bravo helpdesk.

    Deadline for responding is 17:00 on 27th Feb'26.

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 162 days
    31 Mar 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    26 Jan 2026, 15:53 GMT
    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

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PNZN-9524-VCQJ Waterloo General Office, London, London, SE1 8SWContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure