Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Managed Payroll & Pension Administration Service
Authority: Plymouth CAST Multi Academy Trust (Central government)·On behalf of: PHP Law LLP
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionPlymouth CAST is undertaking a pre-market engagement exercise to inform the development of a future procurement for a managed payroll and pension administration service. Through this engagement, the Trust aims to:
- Test the feasibility of the proposed service scope;
- Understand current market solutions and innovation;
- Inform system integration requirements;
- Explore implementation and transition approaches;
- Understand commercial and pricing models;
- Identify risks or considerations prior to formal tender. The Trust currently operates payroll and pension administration across multiple schools and locations, with central oversight provided by the finance and HR teams. The Trust intends to move to a single managed payroll and pension administration solution that supports:
- Consistent processes across all schools;
- Improved reporting and compliance;
- Efficient workflows between schools and central teams;
- Improved user experience for employees and managers;
- Scalability to support future Trust growth if required.
CPV: Payroll management services · Pension fund administration services · Pension services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
Competition for Pension services (CPV 6652), and who usually turns up
Plymouth CAST Multi Academy Trust 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: Pension services (CPV 6652) →
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 South West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South West England.
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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 27 days of the bid deadline.
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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.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
How many bids did past lots attract?
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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 bid23%
2–323%
4–623%
7+31%
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 estimate29%
Within ±2%57%
Above estimate14%
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 6652Published estimate£500k
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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 39 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–344%
4–644%
7+0%
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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.
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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
- 7 May 2026, 15:53 BST
- Last source update
- 7 May 2026, 15:53 BST
- Authority reference
PCAS01- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-042089- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0693bbFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
7 May 2026 → 3 May 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published168 days ago7 May 2026, 15:53 BST
- Market engagement139 days ago5 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
uk.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_… ↗ This pre-market engagement is intended to inform the Trust’s detailed specification and procurement strategy, and the Trust welcomes dialogue with interested suppliers to help shape a future tender that delivers a robust, education-focused payroll solution. Suppliers will be offered a 1-hour slot on Friday 5th June 2026. A maximum of 6 slots are available If you wish to book in a slot, please message the request through the tendering portal EU Supply with your email address with your preferred date and time for Friday 5th June 2026. Slots will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. Once all slots are booked out we will have to respectfully decline any further requests. However, written submissions can be provided for the questions provided within the pre-market engagement document shared as a document within the tender portal which must be submitted by 4pm on the 5th June 2026. All information from these meetings will be shared within the tender pack, where it has been deemed as not commercially sensitive.
- Tender notice expected51 days ago1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 193 days3 May 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published7 May 2026, 15:53 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
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- PHP Law LLPProcess contact pointProcuring entityTender process support
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