Official UK procurement notice
Provision of IT Managed Service
Authority: County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority (Police & fire)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe contracting authority is seeking to engage a qualified service provider to deliver comprehensive IT management, support, and consultancy across its operations.
Scope of Services
Will include, but is not limited to:
- 24/7 IT helpdesk support
- Proactive monitoring and maintenance of networks, servers, and end-user devices
- Cybersecurity management, including threat detection and response
- Cloud services management and optimisation
- Software and hardware asset management
- IT consultancy and strategic planning
- Backup, Disaster recovery and business continuity planning
- Regular reporting and performance reviews
Procurement Process
The procurement will be conducted in accordance with applicable PA23 regulations.
This contract will carry an expected initial value of £1,875,000.00 (exc VAT), not including extension periods that may be applied.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) in North East England, and who usually turns up
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority has too little published record in this market to describe on its own. Published market evidence for the same work stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →
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.
No supplier sizes published for this authority.
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 North East England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North East England.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 61 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.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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 bid8%
2–327%
4–631%
7+34%
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 estimate40%
Within ±2%45%
Above estimate15%
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 #1Published estimate£1.9m
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 62 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–327%
4–631%
7+34%
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- 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
- 16 Dec 2025, 15:46 GMT
- Last source update
- 7 Aug 2026, 07:47 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 30 May 2026
- Authority reference
PA005-161225- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-075025- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f704Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Payment of undisputed invoices will be made within 30 days of a valid invoice being submitted electronically to [email protected]
Invoices must be submitted in a valid format to be accepted.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 30 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
16 Dec 2025 → 1 Apr 2027 · 7 dates- Planning notice published310 days ago16 Dec 2025, 15:46 GMT
- Tender notice expected233 days ago2 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Submission deadline174 days ago30 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Award decision expected by144 days ago30 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published76 days ago7 Aug 2026, 07:47 BST
- Market engagement47 days ago4 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) is undertaking pre-market engagement with potential suppliers to test the maturity of its requirements and procurement approach for an IT Support Managed Service.
Throughout this engagement CDDFRS wishes to gain feedback from the market regarding:
- Supplier capabilities and market maturity
- Capability to adapt to the digital, data and technology landscape
- Performance management beyond traditional SLA
- Working within a wider digital and data team for a fire service
Service providers wishing to engage in this preliminary market engagement process should email [email protected] requesting a copy of the documentation for completion by the service provider. The completed document should be returned to [email protected] no later than 04.09.2026, 5pm.
Any clarification questions should be directed to [email protected]
Service providers should note that no site visits or individual meetings will be accomodated as part of this process.
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 161 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 Dec 2025- Planned procurement notice published16 Dec 2025, 15:46 GMTUK3
- Preliminary market engagement notice published7 Aug 2026, 07:47 BSTUK2
- Published value published: £1,875,0007 Aug 2026, 07:47 BST
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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender