Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 10 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST

Official UK procurement notice

UKRI-6285 - DFT programme monitoring and evaluation

Authority: UK Research and Innovation (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£381,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 3 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 11 Jan 2031 · starts 12 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

UKRI wishes to contract a supplier for a DFT programme monitoring and evaluation. Currently 3 programmes are in scope with a contract duration of 4 years and an estimated value of £181,000.00 excluding VAT. However there is a potential for more programmes to be added as options within the 4 years duration at an additional estimated value of £150,000.00 excluding VAT.

CPV: Evaluation consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 12 Jan 2027 – 11 Jan 2031 (4 yrs)
Delivery: UKEligibility: 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 UK Research and Innovation buys Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941), and who usually turns up

UK Research and Innovation’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerUK Research and Innovation · division 79
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: 74 of 175 known-size awards · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=825
42%56%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 20 of 41 known-location awards · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=704
49%52%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 12 decided notices · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=159
38 days33 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 38 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 172 of 266 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7941 · UK-wide, n=1,239
65%47%

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 buyer25 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 79
4% had one bid
The market278 lots with bid counts · CPV 7941 · UK-wide
16% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid4% / 16%
Buyer: 1 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 44 of 278 lots with published bid counts.
2–324% / 20%
Buyer: 6 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 55 of 278 lots with published bid counts.
4–628% / 24%
Buyer: 7 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 68 of 278 lots with published bid counts.
7+44% / 40%
Buyer: 11 of 25 lots with published bid counts. Market: 111 of 278 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 buyer23 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 79
61% below estimate
The market240 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7941 · UK-wide
42% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate61% / 42%
Buyer: 14 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 101 of 240 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%35% / 49%
Buyer: 8 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 117 of 240 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate4% / 9%
Buyer: 1 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 22 of 240 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 794148 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£381k
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 278 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet16% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 278 similar lots
1 bid16%
44 of 278 similar past lots received 1 bid (16%).
2–320%
55 of 278 similar past lots received 2–3 (20%).
4–624%
68 of 278 similar past lots received 4–6 (24%).
7+40%
111 of 278 similar past lots received 7+ (40%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 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 £381k, 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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Frontier EconomicsEarlier contractUKRI-4729 Net Zero Living (NZL) End of Programme Evaluationnotice published Jul 2025Net Zero Living (NZL) End of Programme Evaluation£278kMatched as the earlier contract

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
10 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
Last source update
10 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
Authority reference
UKRI-6285
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-085845
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Evaluation consultancy services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f6c0 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

10 Sept 2026 → 12 Jan 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published47 days ago
    10 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
  2. Market engagement3 days ago
    23 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    Market Engagement Webinar:

    UKRI is holding a market engagement webinar on 2nd October 2026 commencing at 10:00, with a presentation followed by a question and answer session.

    The webinar is an opportunity to learn more about the in scope DTF programmes and the procurement process as well as to provide valuable feedback on the requirement. There may also be a post engagement questionnaire for suppliers to complete.

    Please note that not registering an interest will not prevent any organisation from participating in any future procurement, nor will any information shared during preliminary market engagement provide an advantage in any subsequent process.

    To find out more information about this webinar and register your interest, please follow the link below:

    events.teams.microsoft.com/event/c46380d6-8137-… ↗

  3. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 7 days
    3 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 76 days
    12 Jan 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    10 Sept 2026, 12:26 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

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDQJ-7126-JDHG Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire, South West, SN2 1FLContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure