Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 13 Nov 2025, 15:13 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

TV Automation Testing Tool

Authority: BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) (Public body)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE 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 3 yrsends 1 Dec 2029 · starts 1 Dec 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The BBC is looking to explore the opportunities for automating the testing on physical TV devices (devices with screens, HDMI output). Our key areas of focus are consistency, scalability, flexibility and efficiency of the use cases listed later in this document. The requirements are broken down into 4 main areas:

  • Device Interaction – The ability to interact with a TV device, navigate through the user interfaces and capture the relevant video and audio outputs
  • Analysis – Perform analysis on the output from device interaction, and determine if tests have passed or failed based on pre-set criteria
  • Manual Control – Manual control of a device from an off-site location to allow for in depth exploration of the TV user interface and applications installed on the device
  • Test Management, Integration & Test Results – Management of testing, integration into BBC systems and hosting requirements

CPV: Industry specific software development services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Dec 2026 – 1 Dec 2029 (3 yrs)
Eligibility: 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 BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)’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 bidWhat 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: 0 of 4 known-size awards · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=50
0 of 438%

No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.

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: no winner locations published · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=53
—53%

No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address 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: 7 decided notices · market: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=59
106 days49 days

Half of these awards were announced within 106 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.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 3 of 8 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7221 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=70
38%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 buyer5 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 72
0% had one bid
The market79 lots with bid counts · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
4% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid0% / 4%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 79 lots with published bid counts.
2–380% / 32%
Buyer: 4 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 25 of 79 lots with published bid counts.
4–60% / 33%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 26 of 79 lots with published bid counts.
7+20% / 32%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 25 of 79 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 buyer13 lots with estimate and award · all categories
8% below estimate
The market56 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
46% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate8% / 46%
Buyer: 1 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 26 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%85% / 34%
Buyer: 11 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 56 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate8% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 13 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 722136 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 90 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% single-bid risk
Past bids on 90 similar lots
1 bid8%
7 of 90 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–332%
29 of 90 similar past lots received 2–3 (32%).
4–631%
28 of 90 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+29%
26 of 90 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.

—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
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
13 Nov 2025, 15:13 GMT
Last source update
13 Nov 2025, 15:13 GMT
Authority reference
PROC 2025 108 RA
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-073622
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Industry specific software development services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e0a3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

13 Nov 2025 → 1 Dec 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published341 days ago
    13 Nov 2025, 15:13 GMT
  2. Market engagement320 days ago
    3 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Activity / Date

    Request for information published./ Wednesday 12th November 2025

    Deadline for requesting clarification questions to the BBC./ Friday 21st November at 14:00 (UK Time)

    Deadline for submitting an RFI response./ Wednesday 3rd December 2025 at 14:00 (UK Time)

    Review of submitted RFI responses. / December/January 2025

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 42 days
    1 Dec 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    13 Nov 2025, 15:13 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

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PJRB-3233-GTQL Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, London, W1A 1AAContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure