Official UK procurement notice
KCL-00001660 Request for Information (RFI) - Development of Digital Admissions Service
Authority: KING'S COLLEGE LONDON (Charity / VCSE)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis opportunity is published as a Request for Information ONLY and it is strictly published and active until 30/01/2026 (by 12:00 GMT). King's College London is looking to receive submissions oly within this period. At this stage, it is not expected for a contract to be formed as part of this exercise. Therefore, please kindly ignore the information under "Contract start date" and "Contract end date" as these have been entered for the purposes of the notice only. For completeness, the publish delay has occured due to a e-tendering system error.
King's College London is not a public body within the meaning of the public procurement legislation. Where the University decides to advertise via any government portal (incl. the Central Digital Platform, Find-a-Tender Service or any other portal), it does so on a voluntary basis and does not undertake any obligation to comply with procurement legislation. The University reserves the right in full to adapt or step outside of the procedures in procurement legislation as it considers necessary. The procedure the University commits to following for any individual procurement will be explained in the relevant tender documentation.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1King's College London (King's or KCL) is embarking on the development of a modern…Planned
King's College London (King's or KCL) is embarking on the development of a modern digital admissions environment to strengthen its ability to deliver transparent, consistent, and fair admissions practices for a diverse applicant community, while enhancing the technological and operational experience for the workforce. Each year, King's processes over 130,000 applications and responds to more than 250,000 queries, across a comprehensive curriculum-from Arts and Sciences to Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing, as well as pre-sessional and foundation courses, postgraduate research, and executive education. The international market in student recruitment is driving enhanced competitiveness in the sector.
King's aspires to become more data driven across the student journey from prospect to alumni. In an Admissions context this means using data to monitor applicant engagement and initiate workflows, to use predictive algorithms to support decision making, to automate tasks and processes, and to share data with the applicant and the institution to personalise student services.
King's seeks to replace its existing admissions application with a solution that enables an outcome-focused Admissions Service. This service will uphold principles of transparency, consistency, and fairness, align with institutional strategy, and deliver measurable improvements to institutional and student success.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How KING'S COLLEGE LONDON buys IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72), and who usually turns up
KING'S COLLEGE LONDON has little published record in this market. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: IT services: consulting, software, internet (CPV 72) →
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.
Across this market, small firms won 37% of awards with a known supplier size.
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.
Across this market, 37% of winners were registered in the delivery region.
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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 50 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.
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.
Across this market, at least 63% of awarded procurements had no recorded rival.
How many bids did past lots attract?
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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 bid12%
2–328%
4–628%
7+32%
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 estimate46%
Within ±2%38%
Above estimate16%
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 #1King's College London (King's or KCL) is embarking on the development of a modern…CPV 72Estimate not published
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 72. The comparison uses that group.
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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 789 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid12%
2–328%
4–628%
7+32%
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
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- 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
- 22 Jan 2026, 09:20 GMT
- Last source update
- 22 Jan 2026, 09:20 GMT
- Authority reference
KCL-00001660- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005575- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060bbeFind a Tender
How it was run
Official noticeTender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/kcl/aspx/Home ↗
- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
22 Jan 2026 → 23 Jan 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published279 days ago22 Jan 2026, 09:20 GMT
- Tender notice expected278 days ago23 Jan 2026
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
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.