Official UK procurement notice
Project_5066- Provision of Bill of Lading Shipping Data
Authority: Department for Business & Trade (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBill of Lading data is used by DBT to monitor container trade to and from the UK. DBT have been receiving Bill of Lading data for exports from the UK (where a container leaves from a UK port) and imports to the UK (where the container lands at a UK port or the container lands at a foreign port but with a final destination of the UK) since 2021.
The Data DBT requires includes:
a. Container events including port departure time and port arrival time.
b. Information on which ship the good was transported on. This must include International Maritime Organization (‘IMO’ number’) and vessel name.
c. Carrier, shipper, forwarder, and container details. These details are required to identify the movements of the specific cargo containers that goods are shipped in. We also require the address data for the carrier, shipper and forwarder.
d. Port of load, port of destination, place of receipt, and place of destination details. The data must allow us to identify where goods are shipped via intermediate ports.
e. The types and details of goods being shipped. This should be the name/type of product using HS classification codes and the volume/weight of the product.
f. Allocated container count (i.e. unit of measurement used to determine the cargo capacity relative to the total container capacity).
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Awarded
Procedure 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
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 20 Nov 2025, 16:18 GMT
- Last source update
- 22 Jan 2026, 16:01 GMT
- Authority reference
5066- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005903- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e5d5Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
- Published justification
Following engagement with the market only one supplier was identified.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
2 Dec 2025 → 22 Jan 2026 · 2 dates- Standstill ends326 days ago2 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Notice published276 days ago22 Jan 2026, 16:01 GMT
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 20 Nov 2025- Transparency notice published20 Nov 2025, 16:18 GMTUK5
- Contract award notice published20 Nov 2025, 17:04 GMTUK6
- Contract signature expected3 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published22 Jan 2026, 16:01 GMTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ThinkData Works LimitedSMEProvision of Bill of Lading Shipping Data8 Dec 2025 – 7 Dec 2026 · up to 6 Dec 2027Extensions: DBT will have an optional extension clause if the requirement is still needed beyond the length of the additonal contract. · Options: The contract will include an optional extension clause where DBT will be allowed to extednt the contrsct of a period up to 12 months. | £520,000 | 19 Nov 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · ThinkData Works LimitedSME
- Signed
- 21 Jan 2026
- Value
- £260,000
- Period
- 21 Jan 2026 – 28 Nov 2026 · up to 28 Nov 2027 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- Further period up to 12 months. Extension exercised where the Buyer gives the Supplier no less than 3 Months' written notice before this Contract expires
3 agreed KPIs: Data Accuracy · Data Accuracy · Access to the tool and alternative platforms that are integrated with the proposed solution.
- Data Accuracy, The supplier targets a minimum of 95% data accuracy on data ingestion, parsing, and cleansing services. The supplier will report the data accuracy to the buyer during each individual data delivery throughout the duration of the contract. If the target is not met, the supplier will resolve the issue within 5 business days. If the issue is not resolved within 5 days, the buyer and supplier will meet to discuss how to ensure data deliveries meet the required target.
- Data Accuracy, The supplier strives to minimize the number of rows with null values or incorrectly parsed data to less than5% of the total rows in the dataset. The supplier will communicate the percentage of rows with null values of incorrectly parsed data during each data delivery. If the supplier does not meet the target, the buyer and supplier will meet to discuss how to ensure deliveries meet the required target.
- Access to the tool and alternative platforms that are integrated with the proposed solution., ThinkData Works guarantees a greater than 99% service availability for the software. Less than 99.9% but greater than 99% = 10% service credit on monthly License* Less than 99% = 25% service credit on Monthly License* *Monthly License is calculated using the following formula. Service Credits for discounted Annual Licenses are calculated as a percentage of the discounted license fee. Monthly License = Annual License Fee Paid ÷ 12
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- THINKDATA WORKS LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- 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