DfT - Scan of Streets - Request for Information

Category Description

Start date 22 September 2026

Respond by 14th October 2026

Routes to market being considered Transport Technology (RM6347), Lots 1, 2, 7a & 7c & RM6094 (Spark DPS)

Associated notice if applicable N/A

The ask The Department for Transport is seeking market insight into options for creating, acquiring, licensing or stewarding a nationally consistent digital representation of England’s road network. The purpose of this RFI is to understand what data already exists, what could be collected or derived, what commercial and ownership models are available, and the likely costs, benefits and risks of different approaches. Suppliers are invited to respond on feasibility, existing work, commercial models, ownership and licensing, indicative cost drivers, standards, data quality, delivery timescales and wider innovation opportunities.

RFI General conditions This is not a call for competition and there is no commitment. Any costs associated with producing a response to this RFI must be borne by the supplier. This RFI cannot be used as a down-selection. Responses must be made in good faith. Information provided through this RFI is indicative, subject to change and non-binding. DfT reserves the right not to proceed with any procurement as a result of this engagement.

As part of their response suppliers shall identify the most appropriate route to market for this opportunity.

Overview of requirement

The Department for Transport is exploring options for establishing a nationally consistent digital baseline of England’s road network to support Digital Traffic Regulation Orders and wider transport data objectives.

The initial driver for this work is the need to establish a reliable baseline for traffic restrictions and regulations across England. Traffic Regulation Orders are the local rules of the road, containing important information about things like yellow lines, parking rules and timings and speed limits. We’re also looking at expanding the service beyond what is contained in an order to allow people to record information about things like yellow box junctions and bridge heights.

New TROs will increasingly be created and supplied digitally through D-TRO. However, a significant historic backlog of existing restrictions remains held by traffic authorities in a range of formats, including paper records, legacy systems, scanned documents and locally managed datasets.

Requiring every authority to digitise this historic backlog individually could create substantial cost and administrative burden. DfT is therefore exploring whether a more efficient and strategically valuable approach could be adopted through national survey activity, existing commercial datasets, government datasets, or hybrid approaches.

Early engagement has identified that the same underlying data, imagery or digital representation could potentially support a wider range of public sector use cases, including road condition, asset management, accessibility, bus infrastructure, freight routing, bridge strike prevention, road safety, geospatial data improvement, digital twins and future transport technologies.

At this stage, DfT has not determined a preferred delivery model. The purpose of this RFI is to seek market insight on the most effective way to achieve the desired outcomes, including whether these are best delivered through a new national survey, licensing of existing data, a hybrid model, public sector stewardship, or another commercial and operational approach.

Your requirement

DfT seeks information from suppliers regarding the feasibility, cost, benefits and risks associated with the creation, acquisition, licensing or stewardship of a nationally consistent digital representation of England’s road network.

Existing data availability

• What relevant datasets already exist.
• Geographic coverage and any gaps.
• Currency and update frequency.
• Data quality, provenance and reliability.
• Applicable standards and assurance methods.
• Existing ownership and licensing arrangements.

Survey and collection options

• Capability for national-scale data collection.
• Use of imagery, video, LiDAR, point clouds and other sensor technologies.
• Recommended coverage models and road types.
• Accuracy levels and quality assurance approaches.
• Approaches to capturing features consistently and clearly.
• Recommended refresh cycles.

Ownership and licensing models

• Supplier-owned data models.
• Government-owned data models.
• Licensing arrangements for existing data.
• Open data opportunities.
• Local authority and wider public sector access.
• Rights to reprocess source material in future.
• Exit arrangements and supplier lock-in risks.

Wider public sector value

• Ability to support road condition assessment.
• Highway asset management and operational decision-making.
• Accessibility and inclusive transport applications.
• Freight routing and bridge strike prevention.
• Digital twins and future mobility.
• Opportunities to collect once and use many times.

Technical capabilities

Suppliers should describe their capability and experience in the following areas:

• National, regional or local authority road network surveys.
• Highway asset, road condition, traffic management, geospatial or transport infrastructure datasets.
• AI-enabled extraction of road assets and transport features from imagery or sensor data.
• Quality assurance, accuracy assessment, validation and confidence scoring.
• Working with recognised road condition, geospatial, data or interoperability standards.
• Secure data hosting, APIs, bulk downloads and data sharing with public sector users.
• Consortium or partnership delivery models where relevant.
• Working with government, local authorities, National Highways or public sector transport bodies.

Location / Geography

The geographic scope under consideration is England’s road network. Suppliers should explain existing or achievable coverage, including differences across strategic roads, local roads, urban roads, rural roads, private roads, restricted-access roads and unadopted roads. Suppliers should also identify any coverage gaps, constraints or recommended exclusions.

Key milestones and deliverables

The purpose of this RFI is to inform DfT’s future procurement and delivery strategy. DfT expects RFI responses to provide evidence on feasibility, existing capability, data availability, commercial models, ownership options, indicative cost drivers, standards, risks and opportunities.

Potential outputs from this RFI exercise may include:

• A summary of market capability and maturity.
• An assessment of existing datasets and coverage.
• Evidence on survey, licensing, hybrid and stewardship models.
• Indicative cost drivers and commercial considerations.
• Information to support a future business case and procurement strategy.
• Identification of potential supplier engagement or further market testing needs.

Goods required / volumes

No goods or services are being procured through this RFI. Suppliers are invited to provide indicative information on scale, volumes, coverage, delivery timescales and cost drivers for different options, including licensing existing data, commissioning new national collection, hybrid models, data hosting, ongoing refresh and future reprocessing of source material.

Security and confidentiality requirements

All information handling would need to follow DfT security guidelines. Suppliers should identify any security, privacy, confidentiality or data protection considerations associated with the collection, processing, storage and sharing of road network imagery, video, LiDAR, point clouds and derived datasets. Suppliers should also identify any restrictions associated with sensitive locations, critical infrastructure, personal data captured incidentally in imagery, anonymisation, redaction or onward sharing.

Social value

DfT is interested in how different approaches could deliver wider social value, including improved accessibility, reduced duplication for local authorities, better public sector data sharing, support for SMEs and innovation, environmental benefits from avoiding repeated surveys, and improved transport outcomes for users.

Questions and Clarifications

• Suppliers not currently registered on the DfT eSourcing platform should complete the registration process by following the guidance available on the platform’s entry page: dft.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗
• Enter your RFI response into DfT’s eSourcing portal: dft.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗. Responses submitted by other means may be rejected.
• Potential Providers may raise questions or seek clarification regarding any aspect of this RFI before the clarification deadline. Questions must be submitted via DfT’s eSourcing platform.
• To ensure all Potential Providers have equal access to information, responses to clarification questions may be published to all parties who have expressed interest. Responses will not identify the originator of the question.
• Not responding to this RFI will not necessarily restrict Potential Providers from submitting a bid in response to any future procurement.

Please contact Jason Thrupp - jason.thrupp@dft.gov.uk to confirm interest and request access to the RFI

DATE ACTIVITY

22 September 2026 Publication of the Request for Information

22 September 2026 Clarification period starts

01 October 2026 @16:00 Clarification period closes

05 October 2026 Deadline for publication of responses to clarification questions

09 October 2026 @ 16:00 Deadline for submission of RFI responses

12 October 2026 – 16 October 2026 Analysis of RFI responses

W/C 19 October 2026 Confirm next steps to RFI respondents

W/C 02 November 2026 Supplier event, if required