Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 30 Oct 2026, 15:17 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Regional Data Platform · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (Local council)

Services
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 4 Jan 2027from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 1 Mar 2030 · up to 1 Mar 2031 with extensions · starts 1 Mar 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

1.1. This market engagement exercise is being run in accordance with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s (the Authority) Contract Procedure Rules and (if relevant) the Procurement Act 2023.

1.2. The purpose of this exercise is to help the Authority, and the market prepare for a potential procurement in the future. It will be managed in a way that ensures no supplier is given an unfair advantage or distort competition.

1.3. Participation in this market engagement exercise does not infer any rights or advantage in relation to any future procurement process. Potential responders will not be prejudiced in any future procurement processes by either responding or not responding to this soft market test exercise.

1.4. All information provided to and received from suppliers in relation to this market engagement is confidential. However, please be aware that the Authority is subject to the disclosure requirements of the FOI Act and that any information we hold is liable to disclosure under that Act. For this reason, we strongly advise that any information you consider to be confidential is labelled as such. In the event that a request is made for disclosure under FOI, the request will be dealt with in accordance with the legislation.

1.5. This market engagement is being used to:

  • develop and refine the Authority’s requirements and approach to the potential procurement;
  • understand the range of suppliers, products, services and delivery models available in the market;
  • test the feasibility of delivering the proposed scope and an operational minimum viable product by May 2027;
  • understand potential technical, service and implementation approaches, including options for migration, integration, administration and ongoing support;
  • test potential procurement, contracting, pricing and commercial structures;
  • understand likely implementation and whole-life costs, principal cost drivers and opportunities to achieve value for money;
  • identify significant technical, commercial, delivery, information-governance and operational risks and dependencies;
  • understand how different approaches would support interoperability, data portability, future development and effective exit arrangements; and
  • identify innovative or alternative approaches that could deliver the intended outcomes more effectively or economically.
  • Developing the Authority’s requirements and approach to the procurement.
  • Identifying suppliers that may be able to supply the Authority’s requirement.

1.6. In undertaking this market engagement, the Authority is not obliged to proceed with the procurement to which it relates.

1.7. In compliance with the Procurement Act 2023, this market engagement has been advertised on the government’s Find a Tender service via a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice.

1.8. The Authority reserve the right to utilise agreements from the Public Contract Regulations 2015 where these are deemed as delivering the best outcome for their needs.

Date and Time: 17 November 2026 16:00-16:50

CPV: Data analysis services · Data capture services · Data management services · Data network management and support services · Data services · Database services · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority buys Database services (CPV 7232), and who usually turns up

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’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: Database services (CPV 7232) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bidWhat 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: 5 of 6 known-size awards · market: CPV 7232 · East of England, n=7
83%43%

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 East of England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 7 known-location awards · market: CPV 7232 · East of England, n=11
14%0%

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 72 · East of England, n=56
—62 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 62 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.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 8 of 10 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7232 · East of England, n=12
80%83%

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 buyer22 lots with bid counts · all categories
27% had one bid
The market24 lots with bid counts · CPV 7232 · UK-wide
8% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid27% / 8%
Buyer: 6 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
2–314% / 33%
Buyer: 3 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
4–623% / 38%
Buyer: 5 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
7+36% / 21%
Buyer: 8 of 22 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 24 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 buyer11 lots with estimate and award · all categories
36% below estimate
The market19 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7232 · UK-wide
58% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate36% / 58%
Buyer: 4 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%45% / 21%
Buyer: 5 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate18% / 21%
Buyer: 2 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 4 of 19 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 7236 monthsEstimate not published

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 72. The comparison uses that group.

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 80 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 80 similar lots
1 bid8%
6 of 80 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–326%
21 of 80 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–636%
29 of 80 similar past lots received 4–6 (36%).
7+30%
24 of 80 similar past lots received 7+ (30%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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.

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.

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
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
30 Oct 2026, 15:17 GMT
Last source update
30 Oct 2026, 15:17 GMT
Authority reference
CPCA/ 00042
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-103348
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Data analysis servicesData capture servicesData management servicesData network management and support servicesData servicesDatabase servicesIT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
Delivery area
East of England (UKH11)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0794e3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

30 Oct 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published15h ago
    30 Oct 2026, 15:17 GMT
  2. Today
    31 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 13 days
    13 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT

    3.1. The Authority will hold a preliminary market engagement presentation using Microsoft Teams. Suppliers wishing to attend should register via the In-trend e-procurement portal with organisation name, attendees names, attendees job titles and email addresses of all attendees (if one person is responding on behalf of multiple). Registered suppliers will receive a Microsoft Teams invitation before the meeting. Following the session, the Authority will circulate the presentation materials and a written questionnaire to interested suppliers. Responses will be used to refine the requirement, procurement strategy, commercial model, timetable and future specification. Following analysis of the questionnaire, the Authority may request further information, demonstrations or presentations to verify responses contained within the questionnaire. Any such activity will be managed in a way that maintains equal treatment, protects commercially sensitive information and avoids giving any supplier an unfair advantage. Participation in the presentation or questionnaire is not a condition of participation in any future procurement.

    3.2. Market engagement will be conducted throughout November 2026, and it is intended that a procurement will be started during January 2027 (subject to change).

    in-tendhost.co.uk/cambridgeshirepeterb… ↗

  4. Tender notice expectedin 65 days
    4 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 120 days
    1 Mar 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Oct 2026, 15:17 GMT
    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

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PBXV-5726-VWGJ 2nd Floor, Pathfinder House, St Mary's Street, Huntingdon, East of England, PE29 3TNContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure