Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 6 Jan 2026, 12:11 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Replacement Finance System for the Choice Housing Group

Authority: Choice Housing Ireland Limited (Public body)

ServicesBelow threshold
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 10 yrsends 30 Jun 2036 · starts 1 Jul 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Choice is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to award an arrangement for the provision of a new Finance System.

The group wishes to engage with suppliers through the process of a Pre-Market Engagement.

The key modules that the Choice requires in a suitable Finance system are:

  • General Ledger
  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Cash Receipting
  • Bank reconciliation
  • Fixed assets
  • Budgeting and forecasting
  • Procurement
  • Accounting for subsidiaries where applicable

CPV: Accounting software package · Accounting system · Billing system · Financial analysis and accounting software package · Financial analysis software package · Financial systems software package · Procurement software package · Software development services · Software implementation services · Software programming and consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Choice Housing Ireland Limited buys Financial analysis and accounting software package (CPV 4844), and who usually turns up

Choice Housing Ireland Limited’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: Financial analysis and accounting software package (CPV 4844) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerChoice Housing Ireland Limited · all categories
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: 12 of 15 known-size awards · market: CPV 4844 · UK-wide, n=67
80%30%

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 the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 15 of 18 known-location awards · market: CPV 4844 · UK-wide, n=55
83%29%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.

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: 27 decided notices · market: CPV 4844 · UK-wide, n=17
56 days52 days

Half of these awards were announced within 56 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 8 of 23 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4844 · UK-wide, n=100
35%54%

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 buyer21 lots with bid counts · all categories
29% had one bid
The market32 lots with bid counts · CPV 4844 · UK-wide
13% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid29% / 13%
Buyer: 6 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
2–338% / 16%
Buyer: 8 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
4–619% / 41%
Buyer: 4 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 13 of 32 lots with published bid counts.
7+14% / 31%
Buyer: 3 of 21 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 32 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 buyer17 lots with estimate and award · all categories
59% below estimate
The market16 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4844 · UK-wide
56% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate59% / 56%
Buyer: 10 of 17 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%24% / 31%
Buyer: 4 of 17 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate18% / 13%
Buyer: 3 of 17 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 16 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 #1CPV 4844120 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 32 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 32 similar lots
1 bid13%
4 of 32 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–316%
5 of 32 similar past lots received 2–3 (16%).
4–641%
13 of 32 similar past lots received 4–6 (41%).
7+31%
10 of 32 similar past lots received 7+ (31%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5.5 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
Below threshold
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
6 Jan 2026, 12:11 GMT
Last source update
7 Jan 2026, 14:53 GMT
Authority reference
PRN25041
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-001138
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Accounting software packageAccounting systemBilling systemFinancial analysis and accounting software packageFinancial analysis software packageFinancial systems software packageProcurement software packageSoftware development servicesSoftware implementation servicesSoftware programming and consultancy services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060005 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

6 Jan 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published287 days ago
    6 Jan 2026, 12:11 GMT
  2. Latest notice published286 days ago
    7 Jan 2026, 14:53 GMT
  3. Market engagement273 days ago
    19 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    All details included in attachment document.

  4. Contract starts111 days ago
    1 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 6 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 Jan 2026, 12:11 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    7 Jan 2026, 14:53 GMT
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Link to opportunity on etenders: https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=6330681

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

Choice Housing Ireland Limited

Contracting authorityPublic undertakingNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-COH: NP000408 37-41 May Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 4DNContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure