Official UK procurement notice
Signalling Control System - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Public body)
To continue to enhance the safety environment for railway track workers, passengers and the public Network Rail need to introduce technology which enhances safety controls and enables work to be undertaken more efficiently. Through this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice, Network Rail would like to understand available, or significantly developed, solutions for track worker controlled secondary/additional protection that does not require trackside devices on the current network.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTo continue to enhance the safety environment for railway track workers, passengers and the public Network Rail need to introduce technology which enhances safety controls and enables work to be undertaken more efficiently.
Through this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice, Network Rail would like to understand available, or significantly developed, solutions for track worker controlled secondary/additional protection that does not require trackside devices on the current network. This is assumed to require either an update or addition to an existing signalling control system or a control centre device that interfaces to the signalling control system. In either case, a connection would then be made to the track worker to allow them to apply and remove the additional protection using a remote device.
The purpose of this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is to allow Network Rail to understand:
- What solutions to the problem statement are currently available? And/or potentially available soon.
- What can the market offer?
- Which systems would it work with?
- What, if anything, would Network Rail need to change or adapt for successful implementation?
CPV: Other community, social and personal services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Past planning notice
- 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
- 4 Jun 2025, 12:02 BST
- Last source update
- 4 Jun 2025, 12:02 BST
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-029826- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-052c42Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
4 Jun 2025 → 1 Jan 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published4 Jun 2025, 12:02 BST
- Market engagement27 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST
The purpose of publishing the Signalling Control Systems Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is to engage with the supply market to assess the level of interest / ability for the market to engage with Network Rail using various contractual models. For the sake of clarity, this is not a call to competition and no contract(s) will be awarded to any supplier as a result of participating in this exercise.
Within any response to this notice, Suppliers should clearly demonstrate a route to product approval and ergonomic sign-off, preferably with an existing or near-ready product. Submissions should also outline plans for trials, integration with existing interlockings, and ongoing support in a live environment. Network Rail would like to understand the RIRL of your product. In your response please describe the current and planned level.
A summary describing your solution which should include:
- Why you believe your solution will meet the needs detailed in the Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
- Overview of the solution in the form of a slide deck
- Provide evidence that the proposer can meet the requirements.
- Data or case studies on current deployment or anticipated results if in development
- Expected improvements in terms of safety and performance
- Timelines for development/implementation of your solution
- Indicative costs
- How your solution will interact and or integrate with the range of signalling systems that Network Rail currently operate
- Confirmation of if the solution is only applicable to that supplier’s equipment or can be implemented more widely
- A proposal for current coverage (routes and mileage) and potential coverage following development in possessions or interlocking areas
- Assurances around cyber security risks
- How your solution handles system or component failure
- Outline of safety and regulatory compliance
- What the expected lifespan of the solution is and overview of maintenance schedule
- Does the solution require a subscription for ongoing software use? If so, what is the duration of the subscription, how frequently does it need to be renewed, and are long-term agreements or extended support packages available to ensure service continuity and access to updates?
A summary of your solution against the following categories with justification:
- All “requirements” can be ‘met’ and evidenced; Network Rail Product Acceptance is already in place.
- All “requirements” can be ‘met’ and evidenced, but no Network Rail Product Acceptance is in place but could be achieved within 6 months.
- Requirements cannot be met in full and or Product acceptance is not already in place / could not be achieved within 6 months.
RESPONDING TO THIS NOTICE:
Responding to this Notice is an excellent opportunity to engage, share relevant information and provide feedback. Should you wish to respond to this Notice please follow the instructions below:
- Accessing the documents:
a. Follow the link: networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html ↗
b. From the welcome screen, access the “Current Opportunities” link and select “Signalling Control System”. Login is not required.
c. The released documents will be at the bottom of the page in the attachments section.
- Once you have reviewed all the documents, the opportunity to feedback and clarify will be open until 5pm on Friday 27th June 2025.
- Any feedback, questions or clarifications in respect of this notice, should only be addressed to [email protected]
- Tender notice expected335 days ago1 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts305 days ago1 Jan 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published4 Jun 2025, 12:02 BSTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender