Official UK procurement notice
Soft Market Test - Education Systems
Authority: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionPublished via the CHEST Portal Ref DN806303
Stockport Council's Education Service has relied on the Synergy system for case management since September 2015. While Synergy has supported our core processes, the education landscape and technology have evolved considerably since its implementation. As our contract approaches expiry in March 2028, we want to ensure our systems continue to meet the needs of children, families, schools, and the wider community.
We are therefore undertaking a soft market testing exercise to:
- Understand the current capabilities, innovations, and cost models available in the market for education case management systems.
- Assess whether alternative solutions could better support our strategic objectives, improve service delivery, and offer better value for money.
- Inform the development of a robust specification for any future procurement, ensuring it reflects both our operational requirements and the latest market offerings.
- Engage with suppliers early to gauge interest, gather feedback, and identify potential delivery partners who can help us achieve our ambitions.
This exercise is not a call for competition, but an opportunity for the Council to gather intelligence and shape our approach to market engagement and procurement
CPV: Educational software development services · Educational software package
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council buys Educational software package (CPV 4819), and who usually turns up
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council’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: Educational software package (CPV 4819) →
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. The market figure counts awards delivered in North West England.
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 51 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 bid20% / 13%
2–347% / 38%
4–633% / 38%
7+0% / 13%
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 estimate15% / 71%
Within ±2%69% / 14%
Above estimate15% / 14%
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 7221No real estimate
This lot is listed as CPV 7221. The table above uses the notice category.
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 75 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid9%
2–331%
4–621%
7+39%
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
- 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
- 25 Feb 2026, 09:29 GMT
- Last source update
- 25 Feb 2026, 09:29 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-016731- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065ba8Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
25 Feb 2026 → 31 Mar 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published244 days ago25 Feb 2026, 09:29 GMT
- Contract starts210 days ago31 Mar 2026, 00:00 BST
- Market engagement209 days ago31 Mar 2026, 23:59 BST
Soft Market Test, ending 31st March 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Feb 2026, 09:29 GMTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender