Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 20 Feb 2026, 17:51 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Repairs and Maintenance IT Software System - Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) - Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise

Authority: Manchester City Council (Local council)

Services
Sectors: Software Packages & ERP (48)IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 11 moends 31 Mar 2027 · starts 1 May 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Manchester City Council are seeking expressions of interest from suppliers for the Council's new Repairs and Maintenance IT Software System - Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) opportunity which will support the Council's Housing Services Directorate.

Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise link here: procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View ↗

Please note, the estimated contract dates provided in this notice are for the estimated system implementation phase ONLY.

The Council is determining whether a further contract, upon completion of implementation, may be required for ongoing operations, maintenance, and/or support. If you have any questions around this, please raise these through the Chest messaging function at your earliest opportunity.

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Manchester City Council buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up

Manchester City Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerManchester City Council · all categories
The marketSoftware package and information systems (CPV 48) · North West England (authority’s region)
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 41 of 74 known-size awards · market: division 48 · North West England (authority’s region), n=435
55%33%

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

How often do local suppliers win?
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 West England (authority’s region).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 75 of 106 known-location awards · market: division 48 · North West England (authority’s region), n=553
71%12%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 25 decided notices · market: division 48 · North West England (authority’s region), n=43
83 days56 days

Half of these awards were announced within 83 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

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

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 32 of 86 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 48 · North West England (authority’s region), n=670
37%66%

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?

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer74 lots with bid counts · all categories
12% had one bid
The market60 lots with bid counts · division 48 · North West England (authority’s region)
13% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid12% / 13%
Buyer: 9 of 74 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 60 lots with published bid counts.
2–338% / 25%
Buyer: 28 of 74 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 60 lots with published bid counts.
4–627% / 37%
Buyer: 20 of 74 lots with published bid counts. Market: 22 of 60 lots with published bid counts.
7+23% / 25%
Buyer: 17 of 74 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 60 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer57 lots with estimate and award · all categories
25% below estimate
The market35 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · North West England (authority’s region)
54% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate25% / 54%
Buyer: 14 of 57 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 35 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%63% / 23%
Buyer: 36 of 57 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 35 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate12% / 23%
Buyer: 7 of 57 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 35 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

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

Lot #111 monthsEstimate not published
Expected competition
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 60 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 60 similar lots
1 bid13%
8 of 60 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–325%
15 of 60 similar past lots received 2–3 (25%).
4–637%
22 of 60 similar past lots received 4–6 (37%).
7+25%
15 of 60 similar past lots received 7+ (25%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

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.

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
Unspecified in notice
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
20 Feb 2026, 17:51 GMT
Last source update
20 Feb 2026, 17:51 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-015864
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0659b3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Feb 2026 → 1 May 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published242 days ago
    20 Feb 2026, 17:51 GMT
  2. Market engagement234 days ago
    27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Interested suppliers must be confident in their ability to deliver a software system which will support the Council's Housing Services Directorate with a range of key software features as required and as outlined in the Summary of Requirements, found within the relevant documentation, found at the following link: procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View ↗

    The documentation contains information about the proposed stages which form this preliminary market engagement exercise. These stages will begin with the completion and submission of a short questionnaire and may lead to interested suppliers being given the opportunity to present a demonstration to the Council, showcasing what their system can offer in line with the Council's requirement.

    If you would like to confirm your interest in this opportunity, you must complete the documentation published here: and return as an attachment, via the Chest, before the deadline of 27 February 2026 (12pm, noon).

    Whilst the deadline for submitting interest in this exercise will close on 27 February 2026, the engagement period may run into March to allow for the demonstrations to be delivered.

  3. Contract starts173 days ago
    1 May 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Feb 2026, 17:51 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

Manchester City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PLNV-8798-LDMP Town Hall Extension, Manchester, North West, M60 2LAContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure