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Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 28 Sept 2026, 07:52 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Provision of Open Source Tools

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire (Police & fire)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Software Packages & ERP (48)IT Services & Software (72)Business Services & Consultancy (79) Delivery: East Midlands (UKF24)
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 10 Jan 2029 · starts 11 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Provision of Open Source Tools for Northamptonshire Police. The Authority is hoping to engage with the Market to better understand the products/tools available to refine our specification and requirements before any formal tender process.

CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Investigation services · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 2 yrsSME
Contract period: 11 Jan 2027 – 10 Jan 2029 (2 yrs)
Delivery: East MidlandsEligibility: SME eligible
48000000 Software package and information systems72000000 IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support79720000 Investigation services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire buys Investigation services (CPV 7972), and who usually turns up

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire’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: Investigation services (CPV 7972) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerThe Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire · division 79
The marketInvestigation services (CPV 7972)
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: 3 of 6 known-size awards · market: CPV 7972 · UK-wide, n=14
50%71%

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 8 known-location awards · market: CPV 7972 · UK-wide, n=9
0%11%

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: division 79 · East Midlands, n=106
—52 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 52 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 9 of 9 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7972 · UK-wide, n=22
100%50%

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 buyer9 lots with bid counts · all categories
11% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 7972 · UK-wide
20% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid11% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–322% / 60%
Buyer: 2 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–644% / 20%
Buyer: 4 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+22% / 0%
Buyer: 2 of 9 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 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 buyerToo few to chart: 3 lots with estimate and award, 5 needed · all categories
The market117 lots with estimate and award · division 79 · East Midlands
41% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate41%
Market: 48 of 117 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%50%
Market: 58 of 117 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate9%
Market: 11 of 117 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 797224 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published
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. The bar shows 127 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 127 similar lots
1 bid8%
10 of 127 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–326%
33 of 127 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–623%
29 of 127 similar past lots received 4–6 (23%).
7+43%
55 of 127 similar past lots received 7+ (43%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 5 bids.
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.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

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

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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
Experian LimitedLive contractProvision of Financial Intelligence Toolruns to Mar 2027——Matched as the earlier contract

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.

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
Below threshold
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
28 Sept 2026, 07:52 BST
Last source update
28 Sept 2026, 07:52 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091223
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportInvestigation servicesSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
East Midlands (UKF24)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077b13 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

28 Sept 2026 → 11 Jan 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published28 days ago
    28 Sept 2026, 07:52 BST
  2. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 3 days
    30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Provision of Open Source Tools for Northamptonshire Police. The Authority is hoping to engage with the Market to better understand the products/tools available to refine our requirements and specification prior to any formal tender.

    Engagement meetings to be held in November 2026. The deadline for submitting an expression of interest is 30th October 2026.

    If you are interested in attending the Pre-Market Engagement meetings, please complete the requirements section on Atamis and express an interest - northamptonshire-opfcc.my.site.com/s/Welcome ↗

    If you have any problems viewing this opportunity or registering your interest, please email Commercial at Commercial@northants.police.uk

  4. Contract startsin 75 days
    11 Jan 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    28 Sept 2026, 07:52 BST
    UK2

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

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PQZB-4253-GCQD Darby House ,Darby Close ,Park Farm Industrial Estate, Wellingborough, East Midlands, NN8 6GSContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure