Official UK procurement notice
BLC0114 - Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) 2026 - RFI
Authority: West Yorkshire Combined Authority (Local council)·On behalf of: BLUELIGHT COMMERCIAL LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionWelcome to this market engagement activity where we are looking to gather information from the market to inform future strategy and decisions.
More information and an online survey regarding this new request, including your opportunity to inform NPAS and BlueLight Commercial can be found using this link:
www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/RFI_BVLOS_RPAS_2026/ ↗
Overview
As part of its commitment to providing an effective and efficient service, in support of forces in keeping the public safe, NPAS is exploring the use of BVLOS RPAS to form part of its future blended fleet.
An initial trial has concluded, in which airborne radar systems were operated so they may be evaluated for suitability as part of a detect and avoid system.
This new request for information seeks to understand options, which may be available for the rapid insertion (within 3 years) of this technology, operating in non-segregated airspace in support of units on the ground and over both congested (urban) and non-congested (rural) areas. “Congested area” in relation to a city, town or settlement, means any area, which is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes.
If you have any queries in relation to this request for information, please send a message to the team via the In-tend Portal and a response will be provided as soon as possible.
Suppliers submitting information may be asked to participate in a demonstration of their equipment at a further market engagement event. Details of which will be provided once all information is considered.
IMPORTANT
All messages should be directed via the In-tend e-Procurement portal messaging system and no direct contact should be made with NPAS or BlueLight Commercial. A link to the procurement portal is provided here: sell2.in-tend.co.uk/blpd/home ↗
This document is not a statement of user need and does not attempt to outline such. It is intended to assist NPAS and BlueLight Commercial representatives to liaise with industry professionals.
All information provided by suppliers in response to this RFI will be treated as commercially sensitive and will not be shared outside of BlueLight Commercial and NPAS representatives.
CPV: Aircraft and spacecraft · Unmanned aerial vehicles
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Yorkshire Combined Authority buys Military aircrafts (CPV 3561), and who usually turns up
West Yorkshire Combined Authority’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: Military aircrafts (CPV 3561) →
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. The market figure counts awards delivered in Yorkshire and the Humber (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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 44 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 bid27% / 17%
2–320% / 61%
4–624% / 11%
7+29% / 11%
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 estimate42% / 14%
Within ±2%50% / 43%
Above estimate8% / 43%
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 3561Estimate 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 18 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid17%
2–361%
4–611%
7+11%
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
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 23 Apr 2026, 14:30 BST
- Last source update
- 23 Apr 2026, 14:30 BST
- Authority reference
BLC0114- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-037133- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0689bcFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
23 Apr 2026 → 31 Dec 2029 · 3 dates- Planning notice published188 days ago23 Apr 2026, 14:30 BST
- Market engagement166 days ago15 May 2026, 23:59 BST
The documentation attached provides further information. Please raise a clarification via In-tend with any queries.
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Contract starts31 Dec 2029
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published23 Apr 2026, 14:30 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
3 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- BLUELIGHT COMMERCIAL LIMITEDBeneficiary authority
- BlueLight CommercialProcess contact pointProcuring entityCommercial Lead
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