Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Dec 2025, 09:01 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Request for Information (RFI) Advanced Penetration Testing and Forensic Analysis enquiry for Cyber Risk Assurance

Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: 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 Ends 19 Dec 2025starts 18 Dec 2025

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking information from suppliers within the Defence Security Sector regarding their capability to perform advanced Penetration Testing, including forensic analysis, to support Cyber Risk Assurance for a capability currently being acquired.

CPV: Information systems or technology strategic review and planning services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedSME

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

How Ministry of Defence buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up

Ministry of Defence’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: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerMinistry of Defence · division 72
The marketSystems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) · Greater London (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: 32 of 115 known-size awards · market: CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=101
28%46%

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 Greater London (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 of 24 known-location awards · market: CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=121
42%50%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Greater London.

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: 6 decided notices · market: CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=12
41 days68 days

Half of these awards were announced within 41 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 94 of 145 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=143
65%60%

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 buyer30 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 72
63% had one bid
The market15 lots with bid counts · CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region)
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid63% / 0%
Buyer: 19 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 15 lots with published bid counts.
2–327% / 47%
Buyer: 8 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 15 lots with published bid counts.
4–610% / 40%
Buyer: 3 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 15 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 13%
Buyer: 0 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 15 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 buyer89 lots with estimate and award · all categories
62% below estimate
The market12 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7222 · Greater London (authority’s region)
33% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate62% / 33%
Buyer: 55 of 89 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%22% / 50%
Buyer: 20 of 89 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16% / 17%
Buyer: 14 of 89 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 12 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 7222SME suitableEstimate 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 15 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet0% single-bid risk
Past bids on 15 similar lots
1 bid0%
0 of 15 similar past lots received 1 bid (0%).
2–347%
7 of 15 similar past lots received 2–3 (47%).
4–640%
6 of 15 similar past lots received 4–6 (40%).
7+13%
2 of 15 similar past lots received 7+ (13%).
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
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
5 Dec 2025, 09:01 GMT
Last source update
5 Dec 2025, 09:01 GMT
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-079970
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Information systems or technology strategic review and planning services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05ef47 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

5 Dec 2025 → 18 Dec 2025 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published319 days ago
    5 Dec 2025, 09:01 GMT
  2. Market engagement306 days ago
    17 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT

    For full details please see attachment at this link: www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e36d57c6-dded… ↗

  3. Contract starts306 days ago
    18 Dec 2025

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Dec 2025, 09:01 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

Ministry of Defence

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PHVX-4316-ZVGZ WHALE ISLAND, PORTSMOUTH, South East, PO2 8BYContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure