Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 16 Oct 2026, 17:02 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Request for Information (RFI) - Auto Translation and Transcription Service

Authority: Home Office (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£600,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 16 Sept 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 9 Oct 2028 · up to 23 Oct 2029 with extensions · starts 10 Oct 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Home Office is undertaking a Request for Information to improve its understanding of the current market for translation, transcription and interpretation technologies and services.

The Home Office wishes to understand the maturity, capability, delivery considerations, constraints and limitations associated with solutions that may support operational processes across the Migration and Borders system.

The exercise will explore capabilities relating to:

speech-to-speech interpretation;

speech-to-text transcription;

text-to-text translation;

recording, auditability and evidential traceability;

accessibility;

mobile and low-connectivity operation;

security, hosting and data residency;

integration with existing services, platforms and major cloud environments; and

solution governance, quality assurance and human-review workflows.

Suppliers will be invited to assess their current capabilities against representative operational scenarios covering formal interviews and hearings, operational and field conversations, and customer contact and correspondence.

This exercise builds upon previous market-engagement activity and seeks updated information reflecting current market capabilities, service offerings and product maturity.

This notice and the associated Request for Information are for information-gathering and market-understanding purposes only. They do not constitute a tender, request for a binding offer or commitment by the Home Office to undertake a procurement or award a contract. Any future procurement would be subject to separate approvals and the applicable procurement process.

The estimated value range provided is indicative only and has been included for market-engagement purposes. No procurement has been approved at this stage. Should a future procurement be undertaken, the estimated value will be reviewed and updated to reflect the prevailing requirement, scope, funding position and market conditions.

CPV: Foreign language translation software development services · Foreign language translation software package

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 1 yrSMEVCSE
Contract period: 10 Oct 2027 – 9 Oct 2028 (1 yr) · up to 23 Oct 2029 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Home Office buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up

Home Office’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: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerHome Office · 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: 67 of 165 known-size awards · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=50
41%38%

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: 17 of 28 known-location awards · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=58
61%52%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in 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: 13 decided notices · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=59
116 days49 days

Half of these awards were announced within 116 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 143 of 220 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=70
65%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 buyer27 lots with bid counts · all categories
11% had one bid
The market80 lots with bid counts · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
4% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid11% / 4%
Buyer: 3 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 80 lots with published bid counts.
2–337% / 33%
Buyer: 10 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 26 of 80 lots with published bid counts.
4–641% / 33%
Buyer: 11 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 26 of 80 lots with published bid counts.
7+11% / 31%
Buyer: 3 of 27 lots with published bid counts. Market: 25 of 80 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 buyer31 lots with estimate and award · all categories
45% below estimate
The market56 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
46% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate45% / 46%
Buyer: 14 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 26 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%39% / 34%
Buyer: 12 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate16% / 20%
Buyer: 5 of 31 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 56 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 722112 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£600k
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 89 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 89 similar lots
1 bid8%
7 of 89 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–333%
29 of 89 similar past lots received 2–3 (33%).
4–630%
27 of 89 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+29%
26 of 89 similar past lots received 7+ (29%).
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £600k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

No supplier with a record in this category fits this lot yet.

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 match score 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
16 Oct 2026, 17:02 BST
Last source update
16 Oct 2026, 17:02 BST
Authority reference
N/A
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-098201
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Foreign language translation software development servicesForeign language translation software package
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078a25 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

16 Oct 2026 → 10 Oct 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published1 day ago
    16 Oct 2026, 17:02 BST
  2. Today
    17 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 17 days
    2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Suppliers wishing to participate should register their interest with the Home Office using the contact details provided in this notice. ([email protected])

    Interested suppliers will be issued with a Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Upon receipt of a signed NDA, the Home Office will provide a countersigned copy and issue the Request for Information (RFI) documentation.

    Suppliers will be invited to complete and return the RFI response document by the stated response deadline.

    Following review of responses, the Home Office may undertake further market engagement activities, including clarification discussions, requests for additional information or solution demonstrations, solely for market-understanding purposes.

    This engagement does not constitute a procurement, Invitation to Tender (ITT), supplier selection exercise or commitment by the Home Office to undertake a future procurement. Participation in this engagement will not guarantee involvement in any future procurement activity

  4. Tender notice expectedin 335 days
    16 Sept 2027, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract startsin 358 days
    10 Oct 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    16 Oct 2026, 17:02 BST
    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

Home Office

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PWGC-6513-PQLZ 2 Marsham Street, London, London, SW1P 4DFContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure