Official UK procurement notice
Value Added Software Reseller Framework
Authority: Financial Ombudsman Service Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionOur objective is to establish a Value Added Reseller Framework that simplifies how we source and manage software, while improving outcomes across cost, risk, transparency and capability.
At a high level, we are seeking to:
- Aggregate software spend where appropriate to improve pricing and commercial leverage, ultimately creating savings in this area.
- Reduce duplication and administrative burden associated with repeated procurements
- Introduce greater cost transparency through open book and cost plus models
- Access meaningful value added services such as Software Asset Management (SAM), optimisation and audit support
- Enable more proactive planning, renewal management and vendor negotiation
- Retain flexibility to buy outside the framework where this represents better value or lower risk
Our emerging proposal is to put in place a single supplier value added reseller framework to act as a strategic aggregation and enablement layer between us and the wider software vendor market.
Key features of the proposed model include:
- Cost plus, pass through pricing for software licences
- Pre agreed framework terms and conditions
- Structured and transparent discount mechanisms
- Support for both large strategic vendors (e.g. hyperscalers) and niche software providers
- Non exclusive framework design
The scope under consideration includes, but is not limited to:
- Commercial off the shelf software licensing
- Software maintenance and renewal management
- Licence compliance and audit support
- Software Asset Management (SAM) and optimisation
- Pre and post sales technical and commercial advice
- Price benchmarking and competitive price comparisons
- Management of vendor relationships and deal registration
- Asset recording and licence position reporting
- Hardware and related services
The appointed supplier would support the supply of software and associated value added activities as the sole supplier on a single supplier framework.
The purpose of this engagement is to explore viable commissioning options and assess market interest in delivering key services. The insights gained will help the FOS shape any future procurement strategy. This is preliminary market engagement only, not a call for competition and not scored.
FOS is seeking input from organisations with expertise in the software sector to understand market capability and procurement considerations.
We are seeking insight and feedback from potential VAR providers on our initial approach, particularly around the delivery of a cost‑plus passthrough model for software procurement and the range of value‑added services that may accompany it.
This activity is intended to explore market capability and gather insight only. It focuses on understanding the VAR market’s ability to support our requirements and does not involve supplier selection, down‑selection, or any form of bid evaluation.
CPV: Software package and information systems
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 4 yrs · up to 7 yrs from 2 Nov 2026
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- “Value Added Software Reseller Framework” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
Competition for Software package and information systems (CPV 48), and who usually turns up
Financial Ombudsman Service Limited has too little published record in this market to describe on its own. Published market evidence for the same work stands beside whatever it has. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Software package and information systems (CPV 48) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in Greater London.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 82 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
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.
1 bid11%
2–322%
4–60%
7+67%
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.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.
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.
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 #1Estimate not published
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 79 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid20%
2–341%
4–613%
7+27%
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.
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.
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.
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
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 20 Apr 2026, 15:25 BST
- Last source update
- 20 Apr 2026, 15:25 BST
- Authority reference
pqq_58- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-035749- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0686a0Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
20 Apr 2026 → 2 Nov 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published184 days ago20 Apr 2026, 15:25 BST
- Market engagement166 days ago8 May 2026, 23:59 BST
Interested suppliers are invited to complete a qualitative questionnaire based on the prospectus by 8th May 2026. The questionaire and prospectus can be accessed via our eSourcing tool Jaggaer here: procurement.financial-ombudsman.org.uk ↗. Registration is required on the portal in order to access the prospectus and questionaire.
Where further clarification is helpful, the Authority may also hold bilateral discussions with some suppliers regarding their questionnaire responses. These bilateral sessions, if required, are expected to take place w/c 25th May 2026 via Microsoft Teams.
- Tender notice expected121 days ago22 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 12 days2 Nov 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published20 Apr 2026, 15:25 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