Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 1 May 2026, 10:56 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Third Party Patch Management

Authority: Leicestershire County Council (Local council)

GoodsBelow thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 30 Sept 2029 · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Council would like to consult the market through this PME prior to a tender potentially being issued over the next 6 months or so, regarding Third Party Patch Management.

While Microsoft tools effectively manage Windows and Office updates, third-party applications normally require a separate management capability to ensure they are kept up-to-date. For some applications we use a third-party tool to automate the rollout of patches. This does not cover all applications so for some we manually download and apply the patches to the estate which can be time consuming and has operational overhead. This tool also does not cover server patching.

The Council are seeking a third-party Patch Management software solution that integrates with Intune and works alongside Microsoft Configuration Manager to improve operational efficiency.

CPV: Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Oct 2026 – 30 Sept 2029 (3 yrs)
Delivery: East MidlandsEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Leicestershire County Council buys Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up

Leicestershire County 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: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLeicestershire County Council · division 48
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: 4 of 13 known-size awards · market: division 48 · East Midlands, n=367
31%32%

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 East Midlands.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 4 of 15 known-location awards · market: division 48 · East Midlands, n=453
27%10%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East Midlands.

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: 16 decided notices · market: division 48 · East Midlands, n=30
36 days66 days

Half of these awards were announced within 36 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 13 of 17 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 48 · East Midlands, n=562
76%64%

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 buyer44 lots with bid counts · all categories
14% had one bid
The market41 lots with bid counts · division 48 · East Midlands
10% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid14% / 10%
Buyer: 6 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 41 lots with published bid counts.
2–320% / 46%
Buyer: 9 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 19 of 41 lots with published bid counts.
4–652% / 34%
Buyer: 23 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 41 lots with published bid counts.
7+14% / 10%
Buyer: 6 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 41 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 buyer46 lots with estimate and award · all categories
9% below estimate
The market26 lots with estimate and award · division 48 · East Midlands
58% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate9% / 58%
Buyer: 4 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 15 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%80% / 19%
Buyer: 37 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate11% / 23%
Buyer: 5 of 46 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 26 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 #136 monthsSME 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 41 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet10% single-bid risk
Past bids on 41 similar lots
1 bid10%
4 of 41 similar past lots received 1 bid (10%).
2–346%
19 of 41 similar past lots received 2–3 (46%).
4–634%
14 of 41 similar past lots received 4–6 (34%).
7+10%
4 of 41 similar past lots received 7+ (10%).
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.

—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
Goods
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
1 May 2026, 10:56 BST
Last source update
1 May 2026, 13:23 BST
Authority reference
DN814974
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-040496
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Software package and information systems
Delivery area
East Midlands (UKF2)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06900b Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

1 May 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published172 days ago
    1 May 2026, 10:56 BST
  2. Market engagement151 days ago
    22 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    Engagement will take the form of the completion of a short questionnaire.

    The questionnaire is available via the Council e-tender portal EastMidsTenders at the following link:

    www.eastmidstenders.org ↗

    Please search for the opportunity using the project reference DN814974 - Third Party Patch Management

  3. Contract starts20 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 1 May 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    1 May 2026, 10:56 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    1 May 2026, 13:23 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Updated Engagement process description section to replace the original link that may not be accessible.

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

Leicestershire County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PNHT-9235-VXDV County Hall, Leicester, East Midlands, LE3 8RAContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure