Official UK procurement notice
Microsoft Support Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: BANK OF ENGLAND
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Bank of England is reviewing its future requirements for Microsoft support services and is seeking market insight into the support models, service capabilities and commercial approaches available to support its Microsoft estate.
At this stage, the Bank has not made any decisions regarding a future procurement. This preliminary market engagement is intended to inform the Bank's understanding of the market, potential service offerings, and future sourcing strategy.
The purpose of this engagement is to obtain market feedback on areas including:
- Support service models and delivery approaches.
- Service capabilities, including proactive, reactive and advisory
support services.
- Commercial and pricing models.
- Service levels, escalation processes and governance arrangements.
- Access to specialist technical expertise and engineering resources.
- Innovation, automation and emerging support capabilities.
- Market trends and developments relevant to Microsoft support
services.
The Bank welcomes responses from suppliers with relevant Microsoft support services expertise. Feedback received will help inform the Bank's future requirements, sourcing strategy and any subsequent procurement decisions.
This Preliminary Market Engagement exercise does not constitute a call for competition and will not result in the award of any contract. The Bank reserves the right to amend the scope, requirements and procurement approach of any future procurement following completion of the engagement process.
CPV: Information technology services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How BANK OF ENGLAND buys Systems and technical consultancy services (CPV 7222), and who usually turns up
BANK OF ENGLAND’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) →
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.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in 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 48 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 bid17% / 13%
2–317% / 33%
4–650% / 24%
7+17% / 30%
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 estimate41%
Within ±2%45%
Above estimate14%
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 7222Published estimate£4.5m
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 135 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–333%
4–624%
7+30%
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
- 9 Dec 2025, 11:10 GMT
- Last source update
- 22 Sept 2026, 18:17 BST
- Authority reference
TEN1000021- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-089865- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f194Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
9 Dec 2025 → 1 May 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published321 days ago9 Dec 2025, 11:10 GMT
- Tender notice expected117 days ago1 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published34 days ago22 Sept 2026, 18:17 BST
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 9 days5 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
The Bank of England is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement to help shape its future approach to Microsoft support services.
Through this engagement, the Bank is seeking supplier feedback on support delivery models, service capabilities, commercial and pricing approaches, governance arrangements, access to specialist technical expertise, innovation, automation, and emerging support capabilities. The feedback received will be used to inform the Bank's future sourcing strategy, service requirements, and procurement approach.
Suppliers wishing to participate should register their interest and complete the Preliminary Market Engagement questionnaire through the Bank's e tendering portal under project reference TEN1000021.
For further information about registering on the Supplier Portal, please refer to the Bank of England's guidance: www.bankofengland.co.uk/contact/supplying-go… ↗.
The guidance explains the registration process, supplier statuses, and how to participate in sourcing events.
Clarification questions must be submitted through the portal by 23 October 2026, and completed responses must be submitted by 12:00 on 5 November 2026.
The Bank intends to hold an online supplier engagement webinar on 6th October 2026. Registration details will be provided through the e-tendering portal.
This engagement does not constitute a call for competition or form part of a formal procurement process. It will not result in the award of a contract. Participation or non-participation will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement process.
Participation in this Preliminary Market Engagement is limited to organisations that are active in the relevant market. The Bank reserves the right to determine eligibility for participation and to refuse or withdraw participation at its discretion where it considers this necessary to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the engagement.
- Contract startsin 185 days1 May 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 9 Dec 2025- Pipeline notice published9 Dec 2025, 11:10 GMTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Sept 2026, 18:12 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Sept 2026, 18:17 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 (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender