Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice

Published 12 Nov 2026, 13:28 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Rail Plant Performance System

Official notice

Competition analysis

Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdUtilitiesSME suitableVCSE suitable

Sectors: IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: Delivery location not published

Planned pipeline value£529,000pipeline notice, not a live tender

Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice

Contract term 3 yrs 1 moends 30 Aug 2030 · up to 30 Aug 2032 with extensions · starts 2 Aug 2027

Notice summaryFrom the published notice

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Network Rail is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for the future provision of a managed service for the Rail Plant Performance System (Rail PPS), a bespoke online system used to record and analyse rail plant performance. The anticipated requirement includes application hosting, maintenance and support, data backup, data import and extraction, technical and user support, service management and source code/data management. The contract may also include future software development and system enhancements, including mobile functionality, reporting, system integrations and other improvements commissioned through agreed work packages. This PME is intended to understand market capability, appetite, delivery approaches and potential barriers to competition and to inform Network Rail’s future procurement approach.

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Software development services · Software support services · Software-related services

More open work like this

Other notices open now · live search, filters set

Open tenders from NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITEDSearch filtered to this authority Open tenders in Software-related servicesSearch filtered to CPV 7226

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrs 1 moSMEVCSE

Contract period: 2 Aug 2027 – 30 Aug 2030 (3 yrs 1 mo) · up to 30 Aug 2032 with extensions

Eligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Extensions: Extension options published

72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support 72260000 Software-related services 72261000 Software support services 72262000 Software development services

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 Software-related services (CPV 7226), and who usually turns up

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Software-related services (CPV 7226) →

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 · all categories

The marketSoftware-related services (CPV 7226) · Greater London (authority’s region)

What to do with it

How often do SMEs win?

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Buyer: 24 of 61 known-size awards · market: CPV 7226 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=102

39%54%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Greater London (authority’s region).

Buyer: 6 of 14 known-location awards · market: CPV 7226 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=87

43%33%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?

Buyer: 9 decided notices · market: CPV 7226 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=6

148 days45 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 148 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Buyer: at least 53 of 72 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7226 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=143

74%76%

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?

This buyer14 lots with bid counts · all categories

7% had one bid

The market7 lots with bid counts · CPV 7226 · Greater London (authority’s region)

14% had one bid

% of lots with a published bid count: this buyer (14) / the market (7) · select a colour for counts

1 bid7% / 14%

Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 lots with published bid counts.

2–357% / 14%

Buyer: 8 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 7 lots with published bid counts.

4–636% / 0%

Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 7 lots with published bid counts.

7+0% / 71%

Buyer: 0 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 7 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

This buyer6 lots with estimate and award · all categories

83% below estimate

The market5 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7226 · Greater London (authority’s region)

60% below estimate

% of lots with an estimate and award: this buyer (6) / the market (5) · select a colour for counts

Below estimate83% / 60%

Buyer: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.

Within ±2%0% / 0%

Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.

Above estimate17% / 40%

Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.

Assess each lot
i

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 722637 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£529k

Expected competition

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 106 past lots.

—No model forecast yet8% chance of a single bid

Past bids on 106 similar lots

1 bid8%

8 of 106 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).

2–331%

33 of 106 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).

4–631%

33 of 106 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).

7+30%

32 of 106 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).

Comparable past lots usually drew 4 bids.

Commercial price forecast

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

—No model forecast yet

No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £529k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data

Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see 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: 12 Nov 2026, 13:28 GMT
Last source update: 12 Nov 2026, 13:28 GMT
FTS notice number: 2026/S 000-107551
Latest notice: Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV): IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportSoftware development servicesSoftware support servicesSoftware-related services
Delivery area: Not published
Official registry OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-07ba89 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice

Submission deadline: —

Timeline

12 Nov 2026 → 2 Aug 2027 · 3 dates

Planning notice published23h ago
12 Nov 2026, 13:28 GMT
Today
13 Nov 2026
Market engagementin 28 days
11 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
Network Rail is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) for the Rail Plant Performance System (Rail PPS). PME documents are available on the BravoNR portal: networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html ↗. Under Published Opportunities, search for “Rail Plant Performance System”. No login is required.
Suppliers should review the PME documentation and provide feedback on capability, transition and mobilisation, support and maintenance, hosting, technical requirements, potential enhancements, commercial considerations and barriers to competition. Responses and clarification questions should be submitted to [email protected] by 11 December 2026.
Feedback may inform the future scope and procurement approach. This PME is for information-gathering purposes only and is not a tender or call for competition.
Contract startsin 261 days
2 Aug 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender

Preliminary market engagement notice published
12 Nov 2026, 13:28 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 email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

Preliminary market engagement notice planningPreliminary market engagement noticeUK2Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender12 Nov 2026, 13:28 GMT