Find a TenderOpen for tender
Published 29 Sept 2026, 15:31 BST

Official UK procurement notice

ICT Data Platform Consultancy Services

Authority: Ayrshire College (Education)

ServicesOpen procedure
Published estimate£200,000exc. VAT
Submission deadline 11 Nov 202612:00 GMT · 15 days left

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Ayrshire College is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced technical specialist partner to support the development of a modern, secure and scalable enterprise data platform capability for Ayrshire College.

CPV: Systems and technical consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1
Delivery: Scotland · Ayrshire CollegeTurnover guideline: ~£400,000/yr≈ 2× annual value
Variant bids: not allowed

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids are scored
Quality: 80%Price: 20%
Published sub-criteria (2)
  • Technical Questions: 80%
  • price: 20%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Technical Questions: 80
  • Price: 20

No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.

What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
  • Turnover usually expected at this size: about £400,000 (twice the annual value).

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How Ayrshire College buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up

Ayrshire College’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: Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerAyrshire College · all categories
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 2 known-size awards · market: CPV 7222 · Scotland, n=33
2 of 248%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Scotland.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 3 known-location awards · market: CPV 7222 · Scotland, n=20
0 of 340%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 7222 · UK-wide, n=73
—48 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 48 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 1 of 3 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7222 · Scotland, n=42
1 of 355%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyerToo few to chart: 2 lots with bid counts, 5 needed · all categories
The market15 lots with bid counts · CPV 7222 · Scotland
7% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid7%
Market: 1 of 15 lots with published bid counts.
2–333%
Market: 5 of 15 lots with published bid counts.
4–613%
Market: 2 of 15 lots with published bid counts.
7+47%
Market: 7 of 15 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyerNo estimate-and-award pairs published
The market8 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7222 · Scotland
88% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate88%
Market: 7 of 8 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%13%
Market: 1 of 8 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0%
Market: 0 of 8 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 722218 monthsPublished estimate£200k
Expected competition
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.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

4expected bids4% chance of a single bid
similar past contests in this category: 72
Forecast chances for this lot
1 bid4%
Chance this lot gets 1 bid: 4%. This is a forecast.
2–323%
Chance this lot gets 2–3: 23%. This is a forecast.
4–615%
Chance this lot gets 4–6: 15%. This is a forecast.
7+58%
Chance this lot gets 7+: 58%. This is a forecast.
Commercial price forecast
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.

Based on 17 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

£196k1.9% below estimate
17 comparable awards
Forecast compared with the buyer’s estimate
Middle 50%£175k–£200k
Half of likely prices fall between £174,733 and £200,000.
Estimate£200k
The buyer published an estimate of £200,000 for this lot.
A 23% chance the award lands exactly on the estimate.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Symmetry LtdWorked for this buyerAyrshire College Finance Systemnotice published Sept 2025——Similar wording and category

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.

SupplierWon in this categoryLive contractsAward vs estimate
7 wins in Scotland37 panel places
£272m356 awards in 36m · last this month104 live · £569m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

at estimate n=4
KPMGLarge
35 panel places
£570m147 awards in 36m · last 1 month ago39 live · £100m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

at estimate n=23
£2.1m13 awards in 36m · last 1 month ago6 live · £1.2m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

21% below n=4
2 wins in Scotland1 panel places
£1.1m11 awards in 36m · last 9 months ago3 live · £5.0m
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

10% below n=2
1 win in Scotland
£788k3 awards in 36m · last 14 months ago1 live · £74k
i

Public contracts this supplier still holds.

Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book.

Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity.

no comparable pairs
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 · publisher note attached
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Open for tender
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
29 Sept 2026, 15:31 BST
Last source update
29 Sept 2026, 15:31 BST
Award evaluation window
11 Nov 2026 – …
Authority reference
2026-PS-13
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091992
Classification (CPV)
Systems and technical consultancy services
Delivery area
Scotland (UKM93)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077cc1 Find a Tender
Contract terms
Electronic trading
e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
Review and risk notes
Review procedure

An economic operator that suffers, or risks suffering, loss or damage attributable to a breach of duty under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (SSI 2015/446) (as amended) may bring proceedings in the Sheriff Court or Court of Session.

Publisher note: NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=844297. The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx. Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems. (SC Ref:844297)

How to participate & submission route

Official notice Submit via Public Contracts Scotland
Submission portal named on this notice: Public Contracts Scotland · Who buys & how to bid on PCS
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free single registration for Scotland; PCS-Tender (Jaggaer) for full bidding
Requests to participate (first stage)
—
Tender submission deadline
11 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
Clarification deadline
—
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission"}
Accepted languages
en
Bid validity
90 days from the deadline
Bids opened
11 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

29 Sept 2026 → 11 Nov 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Notice published27 days ago
    29 Sept 2026, 15:31 BST
  2. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  3. Submission deadlinein 15 days
    11 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
  4. Bids openedin 15 days
    11 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Nothing awarded yet
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Ayrshire College

Contracting authorityEducationBody governed by public lawEducation Main Campus, Hill Street, Kilmarnock, Scotland, KA1 3HYContact name, email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

  • Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Sheriff Court HouseReview body Kilmarnock

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice; the tender pack is on the portal.