Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Sept 2026, 15:50 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Virtual Accessibility Tours PME

Authority: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED (Central government)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 7 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 4 Feb 2032 · starts 5 Feb 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Network Rail is looking to procure an end-to-end Virtual Accessibility Tours service for a baseline portfolio of 250 designated railway stations across Great Britain.

The proposed service would include station surveys, LiDAR scanning, panoramic imagery, creation of accessible interactive virtual tours and supporting digital assets, publication support, testing, accessibility assurance, implementation, training, ongoing support and maintenance, content updates and future re-scanning services.

The current delivery assumption is that, following a planned contract award in early February 2027, the first 100 station tours would be delivered, accepted and operational by June 2027, with the remaining 150 completed by October 2027.

The purpose of this preliminary market engagement is to obtain supplier feedback on the draft requirements, the deliverability of the proposed timetable and the suitability of a fixed-price commercial model where the station composition and sequencing may change.

CPV: Data-processing services · Digital mapping services · Software support services · Software-related services · Specialised photography services · Surveying services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED buys Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135), and who usually turns up

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED’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: Engineering-related scientific and technical services (CPV 7135) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerNETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED · division 71
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: 2 of 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 7135 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=45
40%38%

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 Greater London (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 2 known-location awards · market: CPV 7135 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=38
0 of 229%

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: 3 decided notices · market: CPV 7135 · UK-wide, n=44
148 days32 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 148 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 4 of 8 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7135 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=64
50%64%

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 buyer16 lots with bid counts · all categories
13% had one bid
The market8 lots with bid counts · CPV 7135 · Greater London (authority’s region)
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 0%
Buyer: 2 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
2–350% / 25%
Buyer: 8 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
4–638% / 75%
Buyer: 6 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 8 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 buyer6 lots with estimate and award · all categories
83% below estimate
The market59 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7135 · UK-wide
46% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate83% / 46%
Buyer: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 27 of 59 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%0% / 29%
Buyer: 0 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 17 of 59 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17% / 25%
Buyer: 1 of 6 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 15 of 59 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 713560 monthsEstimate 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 186 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet10% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 186 similar lots
1 bid10%
19 of 186 similar past lots received 1 bid (10%).
2–320%
37 of 186 similar past lots received 2–3 (20%).
4–632%
60 of 186 similar past lots received 4–6 (32%).
7+38%
70 of 186 similar past lots received 7+ (38%).
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.

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
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 Sept 2026, 15:50 BST
Last source update
9 Sept 2026, 15:50 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-085500
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Data-processing servicesDigital mapping servicesSoftware support servicesSoftware-related servicesSpecialised photography servicesSurveying services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f5e7 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Sept 2026 → 5 Feb 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published47 days ago
    9 Sept 2026, 15:50 BST
  2. Market engagement39 days ago
    17 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    For further information relating to the scope of this pre-market enagement and the submission process, please review the documents titled "Virtual Accessibility Tours - PME Guidance" and "Virtual Accessibility Tours - PME Submission Questionnaire" via the instructions below:

    1)Follow the link: networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html ↗

    1. From the welcome screen access the 'view current opportunites' link and select "#45652 - Virtual Accessibility Tours"
    2. Click on the attachments to view the attached documents.
  3. Tender notice expected19 days ago
    7 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 100 days
    5 Feb 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Sept 2026, 15:50 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

NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PNZN-9524-VCQJ Waterloo General Office, London, London, SE1 8SWContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure