Official UK procurement notice
Provision of the UK Tobacco Track and Trace System
Authority: HM Revenue & Customs (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionHMRC intend to award a concession contract to a single supplier for the United Kingdom's Tobacco Track and Trace system, in support of the World Health Organization Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
The UK currently has a supplier providing services to enable the continued tracking and tracing of tobacco products manufactured in or imported into the UK. The existing contract is expected to expire at the end of October 27, and HMRC intends to appoint a supplier to deliver the service on a replacement basis.
The purpose of this Notice is to alert interested parties and gain interest. The intention is to award a concession contract with an anticipated duration of up to five years.
The UK ratified the WHO Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in 2018. The Protocol requires parties to implement an effective traceability system for tobacco products manufactured in or imported into their territory, taking account of regional specific requirements and international best practice. The UK system operates as a standalone national system and must also support specific arrangements for Northern Ireland in accordance with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The provider's main responsibilities are expected to include delivery of an end to end Tobacco Track and Trace service, including:
- an ID issuer service, to ensure tobacco products manufactured in or imported into the UK are assigned a unique identifier; and
- a data routing and repository service, to securely receive, validate, store and make available traceability data relating to tobacco products, accessible to HMRC and other authorised authorities.
The service is expected to operate at national scale, support high volume transactional data, and meet applicable UK and international legislative requirements. The contract will be awarded under a concession model, with costs recovered from industry users rather than HMRC.
HMRC may refine and further define the detailed requirements during the procurement process, including operational, technical, performance, security, and transition arrangements.
- How the procedure runs: It is anticipated that this will be a 2 stage competitive flexible procedure consisting of a tender stage and demonstration stage. Further detail will be provided in the tender notice.
CPV: Data collection and collation services · Scanning services · Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewalPublished value£5,500,000
- Economic & financial standing
Full details will be set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- Technical & professional ability
Full details will be set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
Published sub-criteria (3)
- Technical / Quality: 65%
- Technical Demonstration: 15%
- Cost: 20%
Published award criteria (3)
- Technical / Quality: Criteria will be weighted, with full details set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- Technical Demonstration: Criteria will be weighted, with full details set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- Cost: Criteria will be weighted, with full details set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- Economic & financial standing
Full details will be set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- Technical & professional ability
Full details will be set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How HM Revenue & Customs buys Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999), and who usually turns up
HM Revenue & Customs’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: Miscellaneous business-related services (CPV 7999) →
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 68 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% / 14%
2–356% / 27%
4–622% / 29%
7+6% / 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 estimate30% / 42%
Within ±2%70% / 35%
Above estimate0% / 22%
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 7999Published estimate£5.5m
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 138 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid14%
2–327%
4–629%
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- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Concession
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 11 Aug 2025, 09:28 BST
- Last source update
- 14 Oct 2026, 15:14 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 5 Mar 2027
- Authority reference
SR802215668- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097116- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0584ccFind a Tender- Contract terms summary
Full details will be set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
- How it runs
It is anticipated that this will be a 2 stage competitive flexible procedure consisting of a tender stage and demonstration stage. Further detail will be provided in the tender notice.
- Risks
Full details will be set out in the tender documents at the appropriate procurement stage
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 6 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
11 Aug 2025 → 1 Apr 2027 · 8 dates- Planning notice published11 Aug 2025, 09:28 BST
- Latest notice published12 days ago14 Oct 2026, 15:14 BST
- Tender notice expected7 days ago19 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today26 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 4 days30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
HMRC intends to launch a procurement for the provision of the UK Tobacco Track and Trace system. Ahead of the formal procurement, HMRC is undertaking a preliminary market engagement exercise and is making a draft version of the technical specification available to potential suppliers.
The purpose of this exercise is to give potential suppliers an opportunity to review and understand the draft requirements, raise clarification questions and provide feedback on specific areas identified by HMRC.
This is a market engagement/RFI exercise only. It is not the formal procurement and is not a consultation on HMRC's intended approach.
- Central Digital Platform
Suppliers wishing to participate in public procurement opportunities are required to register on the Government's Central Digital Platform (CDP), which is provided through Find a Tender. The CDP enables suppliers to submit and maintain their core supplier information and share it with contracting authorities when participating in procurement opportunities.
Registration is free and is available at:
Suppliers should ensure that their information is kept up to date and shared with HMRC as required.
- Accessing the market engagement exercise through SAP Ariba
This market engagement/RFI exercise will be conducted through HMRC's SAP Ariba eSourcing Portal.
Suppliers wishing to access the draft technical specification, submit clarification questions and provide a response to the RFI will therefore need to be registered on HMRC's SAP Ariba eSourcing Portal.
If you are not already registered, please use the following registration link:hmrc.sourcing-eu.ariba.com/ad/selfRegistration ↗
As part of the registration process, you will receive a system-generated email asking you to activate your SAP Ariba supplier account by verifying your email address.
Once you have completed the activation process, you will receive a further email confirming that the registration process is complete and providing your organisation's account ID.
If you do not receive an email response from HMRC within one working day of your request, please first check your spam or junk folder. If you have still not received a response, please contact: sapariba.hmrcsupport@hmrc.gov.uk
Please confirm when your original registration request was made.
Once you have received your organisation's HMRC SAP Ariba account ID, please email:
sophie.hodgson1@hmrc.gov.uk & catherine.moore3@hmrc.gov.uk
and copy: e.procurement@hmrc.gov.uk
Please provide the following information:
Contract title and reference
Your organisation's HMRC SAP Ariba account ID
Your organisation's name
Your name
Your email address
Your telephone number
Once this information has been received, you will be provided with access to the market engagement/RFI event in SAP Ariba.
If you are already registered on SAP Ariba, you may still need to register with HMRC's SAP Ariba eSourcing Portal in order to be added to this event.
Further information about HMRC's SAP Ariba procurement system, including supplier guidance and general information about supplying to HMRC, is available at:
www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/supplying.htm ↗
Participation in this market engagement exercise does not form part of any subsequent tender evaluation.
- Clarification questions byin 11 days6 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 35 days30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 130 days5 Mar 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 156 days1 Apr 2027
Notice history
7 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Aug 2025- Pipeline notice published11 Aug 2025, 09:28 BSTUK1
- Pipeline notice published18 Aug 2025, 08:46 BSTUK1
- Planned procurement notice published27 Aug 2026, 09:19 BSTUK3
- Published value published: £5,500,00027 Aug 2026, 09:19 BST
- Procurement method changed27 Aug 2026, 09:19 BST
- Deadline published: 30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT27 Aug 2026, 09:19 BST
- Preliminary market engagement notice published14 Oct 2026, 15:14 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
Contact email address updated
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-08: 1 release · 11 Aug 2025
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 (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender