Official UK procurement notice
Preliminary Market Engagement - Contract, Procurement and Governance Management Platform
Authority: FAIRFAX MULTI ACADEMY TRUST (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Trust is undertaking preliminary market engagement to understand the market for the potential future development and implementation of a cloud-based Contract, Procurement and Governance Management Platform.
The Trust is seeking information from suppliers with experience in software development, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions, contract management platforms, governance systems, workflow solutions and education sector technology.
The purpose of this engagement is to gather information regarding
- Supplier capability and relevant experience
- Potential delivery approaches
- Platform and technology options
- Hosting and support models
- Scalability and future development considerations
- Intellectual property ownership approaches
- Indicative implementation and support costs
The Trust is particularly interested in solutions capable of supporting contract management, procurement activities, governance oversight, reporting, workflow automation and integration with common business applications.
This engagement is for information gathering purposes only and does not constitute a procurement process, invitation to tender, commitment to procure or commitment to award a contract.
Interested organisations are invited to complete the accompanying supplier questionnaire
CPV: Business transaction and personal business software package · Communication and multimedia software package · Computer back-up and catalogue conversion services · Database and operating software package · Document creation, drawing, imaging, scheduling and productivity software package · Industry specific software package · Information systems and servers · Miscellaneous software package and computer systems · Software package utilities · Software programming and consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How FAIRFAX MULTI ACADEMY TRUST buys Industry specific software package (CPV 4810), and who usually turns up
FAIRFAX MULTI ACADEMY TRUST has little published record in this market. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Industry specific software package (CPV 4810) →
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.
Across this market, small firms won 33% of awards with a known supplier size.
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.
Across this market, 20% of winners were registered in the delivery region.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 42 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 market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Across this market, at least 71% of awarded procurements had no recorded rival.
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%
2–335%
4–635%
7+13%
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 estimate75%
Within ±2%17%
Above estimate8%
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 4810Estimate not published
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 23 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid17%
2–335%
4–635%
7+13%
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.
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.
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
- 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
- 15 Jul 2026, 11:31 BST
- Last source update
- 15 Jul 2026, 11:31 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-066655- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06cbbdFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
15 Jul 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published100 days ago15 Jul 2026, 11:31 BST
- Market engagement52 days ago31 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
The Trust is undertaking a preliminary market engagement (PME) exercise to better understand the market, available delivery approaches, supplier capability and potential options relating to the future development of a Contract, Procurement and Governance Management Platform for use within the education sector.
The objective of this exercise is to gather information to support business case development and future decision-making. The Trust is interested in engaging with suppliers who have experience in software development, SaaS platforms, contract management systems, procurement solutions, governance and compliance platforms, workflow automation and education sector technology.
Areas of interest include, but are not limited to
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms
- Bespoke software development
- Microsoft-based solutions
- Google Workspace-based solutions
- Contract and procurement management systems
- Governance, compliance and reporting platforms
- Cloud hosting and support arrangements
- Ongoing maintenance and enhancement services
The Trust wishes to better understand
- Supplier capability and relevant experience
- Available technology solutions and approaches
- Hosting, support and maintenance models
- Scalability and future development considerations
- Intellectual property ownership approaches
- Indicative implementation and ongoing support costs
Interested organisations are invited to complete the supplier questionnaire available via the Microsoft Forms link provided below.
forms.cloud.microsoft/e/Phc8ZbV1cG ↗
Clarification questions may be submitted by email to: [email protected]
Responses received will be used solely to inform the Trust's understanding of the market and support future business case development.
This engagement is for information gathering purposes only and does not constitute a procurement process, invitation to tender, commitment to procure, or commitment to award any contract. Participation in this exercise will not provide any advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement process should one take place.
The Trust reserves the right not to proceed with any future procurement activity following this engagement.
- Today23 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 160 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published15 Jul 2026, 11:31 BSTUK2
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