Official UK procurement notice
2026 ATS & HRIS · UK public procurement notice
Authority: OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionOak National Academy is exploring the replacement of BeApplied, its current Applicant Tracking System (ATS), which is expected to become unavailable at the end of March 2027. Oak is also considering whether to procure a linked HR information system (HRIS) at the same time, procure the systems as separate lots, or address its HRIS needs through a later procurement.
The immediate priority is an ATS that can be implemented in time to maintain recruitment services. Oak is undertaking this engagement to understand the market, test its developing requirements, assess realistic implementation times and decide how best to package the ATS and HRIS requirements. No decision has yet been made to include an HRIS in the resulting tender.
Oak invites input from suppliers of ATS products, HRIS products, integrated ATS and HRIS platforms, and suppliers able to deliver either system with a reliable integration to the other. Suppliers do not need to offer both systems to participate.
Oak's requirements include structured and blind sifting, independent reviewer scoring, separation of diversity monitoring data from hiring decisions, accessible candidate and staff journeys, recruitment administration, reporting and export of records.
Oak also wishes to explore HRIS needs and the transfer of new-starter information between systems. These are working needs, not final tender requirements or evaluation criteria. Oak welcomes different ways of achieving the outcomes.
Suppliers are invited to respond by 20th October 2026 by email to procurement@thenational.academy. Please state:
Whether you offer an ATS, an HRIS, or both, and whether each is an established product or requires development.
Indicative three-year costs for the ATS and HRIS separately, including implementation, migration, integrations, licences, support and optional modules. These figures are for planning and will not be scored.
Availability for demonstrations to our team:
Oak expects to hold live demonstrations or discussions during October 2026 with potential suppliers. It may use separate ATS and HRIS scenarios so suppliers offering only one system can participate meaningfully. All interested suppliers may submit written input regardless of whether they receive a live session.
The engagement will not be scored or used to select a preferred supplier. Participation is not required to bid for any subsequent contract and gives no supplier an advantage in that competition. Oak will record the engagement and make information relevant to preparing a bid available to the wider market, while protecting genuinely confidential supplier information.
Oak currently expects to publish an ATS tender in late October/mid November 2026, but the timing, scope, procurement route and contract value will be reviewed following this engagement.
This notice is not an invitation to tender and does not commit Oak to any particular procurement or award.
CPV: Recruitment services · Time accounting or human resources software development services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up
OAK NATIONAL ACADEMY LIMITED’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: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →
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.
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.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 49 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.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
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 bid4%
2–333%
4–633%
7+30%
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.
Below estimate47%
Within ±2%33%
Above estimate19%
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 #1CPV 7221Estimate 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 81 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid4%
2–333%
4–633%
7+30%
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
- Services
- 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
- 6 Oct 2026, 13:48 BST
- Last source update
- 8 Oct 2026, 09:12 BST
- Authority reference
OAK-T-2026-005- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-095008- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0781b1Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
6 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published20 days ago6 Oct 2026, 13:48 BST
- Latest notice published18 days ago8 Oct 2026, 09:12 BST
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 10 days6 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Oak expects to hold live demonstrations or discussions during October 2026 with potential suppliers. It may use separate ATS and HRIS scenarios so suppliers offering only one system can participate meaningfully. All interested suppliers may submit written input regardless of whether they receive a live session.
The engagement will not be scored or used to select a preferred supplier. Participation is not required to bid for any subsequent contract and gives no supplier an advantage in that competition. Oak will record the engagement and make information relevant to preparing a bid available to the wider market, while protecting genuinely confidential supplier information.
Suppliers are invited to respond by 20th October 2026 by email to procurement@thenational.academy. Please state:
Whether you offer an ATS, an HRIS, or both, and whether each is an established product or requires development.
Indicative three-year costs for the ATS and HRIS separately, including implementation, migration, integrations, licences, support and optional modules. These figures are for planning and will not be scored.
Availability for demonstrations to our team
- Contract startsin 155 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 6 Oct 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published6 Oct 2026, 13:48 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Oct 2026, 09:12 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
Wording of "attached requirements" has been removed from this notice. Details are included in the notice of initial requirements.
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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender