Official UK procurement notice
ICO FOI Concilliation Service - Pre Market Engagement
Authority: Information Commissioner's Office (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Information Commission (IC) is undertaking discovery for a future FOI Conciliation Service (FCS). We are inviting suppliers to this pre market engagement to share market insight on the feasibility, delivery approach and indicative timescales for a service capable of supporting the end-to-end handling and conciliation of Freedom of Information (FOI) complaints.
Prior to commencing formal procurement, we are engaging the market to:
•Refine and validate our understanding of the broader opportunity, to demonstrate best practice in the application of new technology whilst maintaining public trust.
•Shape our requirements, drawing on sector best practices and supplier expertise to deliver a solution.
•Gain insight into indicative delivery timelines, and the organisational conditions we would need to enable for success.
•Leverage supplier experience in delivering technology solutions for similar organisations.
•Test our current assumptions, identify proven or emerging delivery approaches, understand what products and features are available and ensure we are ready to progress
The Premarket engagement will run for four weeks from 21st October 2026 and will inform the subsequent tender specification. It is intended to tender with a robust specification that clearly defines our requirements and enables us to identify the solution that best meets the needs of the FOI FCS service.
Participation in this PME (Preliminary Market Engagement) is voluntary, and suppliers will not be disadvantaged in any subsequent procurement process by their decision to engage or not.
To assist the Information Commission to develop its proposed service requirements, the Information Commission would appreciate responses from interested potential providers to a questionnaire which is available via the Delta eSourcing Platform.
Please copy and paste this URL: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/992RKPA72P ↗ into your browser. For any technical queries regarding the Delta eSourcing Portal please contact Delta at helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com, or via telephone on 0800 923 9236.
Full PME documentation is available to you when you open the link/URL provided, which provides for you a full description of what the IC is looking for and a questionnaire for you to complete and submit via the Delta platform.
Responses to the questionnaire should be submitted by:
12:00 noon on Wednesday 18th November 2026
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:
www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Wilmsl… ↗
To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
CPV: Computer-related management services · Software package and information systems · Software programming and consultancy services · System and support services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Information Commissioner's Office buys System and support services (CPV 7225), and who usually turns up
Information Commissioner's Office’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: System and support services (CPV 7225) →
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 North West England.
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 47 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 bid22%
2–344%
4–617%
7+17%
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 estimate50%
Within ±2%20%
Above estimate30%
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 72Published estimate£800k
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 72. The comparison uses that group.
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 76 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–332%
4–621%
7+38%
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
- 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
- 21 Oct 2026, 12:36 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Oct 2026, 12:36 BST
- Authority reference
2026ICO00532- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-099433- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078cbfFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
21 Oct 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published7 days ago21 Oct 2026, 12:36 BST
- Today28 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 21 days18 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Responses are requested to a questionnaire which is available in the Delta eSourcing Platform together with a broader description of the request.
The submission closing date is: 12:00 noon on Wednesday 18th November 2026.
Submissions are being requested via Delta eSourcing: www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/992RKPA72P ↗
Please copy and paste this URL into your browser. For any technical queries regarding the Delta eSourcing Portal please contact Delta at helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com, or via telephone on 0800 923 9236.
Within Delta, a questionnaire submission document has been provided in the documents section for you to pickup, complete and submit on the Delta eSourcing platform only.
To promote constructive discussion, we will be holding one-to-one sessions. You will need to register for this via the questionnaire submission document. There is a separate section for you to indicate your request for a 30 minute session in the submission document and these will be collated when the submissions close on 18th November 2026.
The one to one feedback sessions will be held on 24, 25, or 26 November 2026. Each organisation can request a single slot. A Teams invite will be shared with organisations that register their interest in their returned submission after 18th November and the teams invites will be issued by Monday 23rd November. Dates and time slots will be allocated and confirmed to each participant. These allocations will be fixed, and requests for alternative dates or times may not be accommodated.
PME Timetable
ActivityDate & TimeAccess
Questionnaire publicationWednesday 21st October 2026Via Delta eSourcing - www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/992RKPA72P ↗
Questionnaire closing date for submission 12 noon Wednesday 18th November 2026Via Delta eSourcing - www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/992RKPA72P ↗
One to One feedback sessions: 24, 25, or 26 November 2026.
Supplier one-to-one discussion sessions
Each slot will be 30 minutes long
A Teams invite will be shared with organisations that register their interest in return of their submission, the teams invites will be issued by Monday 23rd November. Dates and time slots will be allocated and confirmed to each participant. These allocations will be fixed, and requests for alternative dates or times may not be accommodated.
- Contract startsin 123 days1 Mar 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 Oct 2026, 12:36 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