Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 31 Mar 2026, 13:48 BST

Official UK procurement notice

WCC Market Testing for the provision of a Competency Based Software Solution On behalf of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service

Authority: Warwickshire County Council (Local council)

ServicesSME suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Jul 2029 · up to 31 Jul 2036 with extensions · starts 1 Aug 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS) is exploring approaches to having a modern, intuitive, and fully integrated Competency, Training and Learning Management Solution designed to support the whole organisation. The platform must enable effective recording, management, and maintenance of competence across all staff groups, providing a single, reliable source of truth for training, learning, assessment, qualifications, and ongoing professional development.

The solution should support day‑to‑day operational and organisational needs by offering tools that consolidate training and learning, provide clear visual indicators of achievement and progression, enable structured learning pathways, support formal and informal assessments, and enhance appraisal processes. It must deliver strong organisational assurance by evidencing competence in line with all applicable UK regulatory requirements, while also meeting both National Fire Standards and local service‑specific processes, procedures, and competency frameworks.

CPV: Training software development services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Aug 2026 – 31 Jul 2029 (3 yrs) · up to 31 Jul 2036 with extensions
Delivery: West MidlandsEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Warwickshire County Council buys Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221), and who usually turns up

Warwickshire County 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: Programming services of packaged software products (CPV 7221) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerWarwickshire County Council · division 72
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 3 known-size awards · market: CPV 7221 · West Midlands, n=44
2 of 330%

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 West Midlands.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 3 known-location awards · market: CPV 7221 · West Midlands, n=44
0 of 37%

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: CPV 7221 · UK-wide, n=61
—49 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 49 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 2 of 5 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7221 · West Midlands, n=75
40%61%

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 buyer50 lots with bid counts · all categories
18% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 7221 · West Midlands
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid18% / 0%
Buyer: 9 of 50 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–326% / 40%
Buyer: 13 of 50 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–630% / 40%
Buyer: 15 of 50 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+26% / 20%
Buyer: 13 of 50 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 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 buyer38 lots with estimate and award · all categories
18% below estimate
The market57 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7221 · UK-wide
47% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate18% / 47%
Buyer: 7 of 38 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 27 of 57 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%68% / 33%
Buyer: 26 of 38 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 19 of 57 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate13% / 19%
Buyer: 5 of 38 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 57 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 722136 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 81 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet7% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 81 similar lots
1 bid7%
6 of 81 similar past lots received 1 bid (7%).
2–326%
21 of 81 similar past lots received 2–3 (26%).
4–630%
24 of 81 similar past lots received 4–6 (30%).
7+37%
30 of 81 similar past lots received 7+ (37%).
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
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
31 Mar 2026, 13:48 BST
Last source update
31 Mar 2026, 13:48 BST
Authority reference
WAR-0059
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-029683
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Training software development services
Delivery area
West Midlands (UKG13)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067932 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

31 Mar 2026 → 1 Aug 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published210 days ago
    31 Mar 2026, 13:48 BST
  2. Market engagement186 days ago
    24 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    Warwickshire County Council will be using its e-tendering system (WarwickshireCC) for the administration of this market testing process. Providers must register with the system to be able to express an interest and download documents. The web address for the portal is:

    in-tendhost.co.uk/warwickshirecc/aspx/… ↗

    Registration and use of our portal is free. When registering you will be re-directed to the InTend sell2midlands site. If you already registered and have issues logging in then you may need to re-set your password. You will need to select "Log in to portal" next to

    Warwickshire County Council.

    All correspondence or clarifications relating to this market testing must be via the portals' correspondence function. If you are having trouble registering with the portal please email us at: procurement@warwickshire.gov.uk

    Providers must register on In-Tend and log in to our portal to express an interest in this project and to be able to correspond with us about this market testing.

    The deadline for Market Testing Returns is 24th April 2026 at 12 midday, and the deadline for clarification questions is 15th April 2026 at 12 midday.

  3. Contract starts88 days ago
    1 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    31 Mar 2026, 13:48 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

Warwickshire County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PDTN-5446-NMXW Shire Hall, Warwick, West Midlands, CV34 4SAContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure