Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 27 Nov 2025, 12:37 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Swindon Borough Council Virtual Wallets for Direct Payments

Authority: Swindon Borough Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£9,900,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Mar 2029 · starts 1 Apr 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Swindon Borough Council invites you to contribute to preliminary market engagement in relation to virtual wallets for Direct Payments and would welcome the views of suppliers on the questions set out in the questionnaire. The intention is to invite supplier feedback to help shape the final specification and commercial model to ensure the tender delivers the optimum outcomes for the Council.

Swindon Borough Council (SBC) are seeking providers who are willing to provide Virtual Wallets for individuals in receipt of a Direct Payment across our Children’s and Adults Services. This service will provide secure accounts for individuals to manage their Direct Payment, preferably virtually, with safeguard and reporting mechanisms included.

CPV: Banking services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrs
Contract period: 1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2029 (3 yrs)
Delivery: South West

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Swindon Borough Council buys Banking services (CPV 6611), and who usually turns up

Swindon Borough 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: Banking services (CPV 6611) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerSwindon Borough Council · 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: 42 of 57 known-size awards · market: CPV 6611 · South West England, n=8
74%13%

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 South West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 38 of 90 known-location awards · market: CPV 6611 · South West England, n=8
42%25%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside South 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: 15 decided notices · market: CPV 6611 · UK-wide, n=11
76 days57 days

Half of these awards were announced within 76 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 26 of 83 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 6611 · South West England, n=9
31%67%

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 buyer33 lots with bid counts · all categories
15% had one bid
The market19 lots with bid counts · CPV 6611 · UK-wide
26% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid15% / 26%
Buyer: 5 of 33 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 19 lots with published bid counts.
2–318% / 32%
Buyer: 6 of 33 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 19 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 42%
Buyer: 11 of 33 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 19 lots with published bid counts.
7+33% / 0%
Buyer: 11 of 33 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 19 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 buyer25 lots with estimate and award · all categories
52% below estimate
The market9 lots with estimate and award · CPV 6611 · UK-wide
11% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate52% / 11%
Buyer: 13 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 9 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%28% / 67%
Buyer: 7 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 9 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 22%
Buyer: 5 of 25 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 9 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 661136 monthsPublished estimate£9.9m
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 38 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% single-bid risk
Past bids on 38 similar lots
1 bid13%
5 of 38 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–345%
17 of 38 similar past lots received 2–3 (45%).
4–642%
16 of 38 similar past lots received 4–6 (42%).
7+0%
0 of 38 similar past lots received 7+ (0%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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 £9.9m, 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.

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
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
27 Nov 2025, 12:37 GMT
Last source update
27 Nov 2025, 12:37 GMT
Authority reference
1
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-077653
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Banking services
Delivery area
South West (UKK14)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05ea19 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

27 Nov 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published327 days ago
    27 Nov 2025, 12:37 GMT
  2. Market engagement311 days ago
    12 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Engagement Process Description

    To participate in the Preliminary Market Engagement Suppliers will need to Register as a Supplier with ProContract, www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk ↗, then Register an Interest before obtaining access to the Preliminary Market Engagement documents.

    Responses to the Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire are required to be submitted no later than 12 December 2025, 16:00 hrs UK Local time via ProContract tender portal www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk ↗ by uploading the required completed questionnaire.

  3. Contract starts202 days ago
    1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    27 Nov 2025, 12:37 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

Swindon Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PNPT-6195-XDWV Swindon Borough Council, Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon, South West, SN1 2JHContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure