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ICO FOI Concilliation Service - Pre Market Engagement
Information Commissioner's Office · Central government
In brief
Information Commissioner's Office has announced plans to buy IT and software work. This is an early notice: there is nothing to bid on yet, but it tells you a tender may follow.
The estimated value is £800,000 excluding VAT.
The contract runs for 2 years, starting 1 March 2027.
Built from the notice's own fields. Always check the official notice before you bid.
Can I win this?
Competition
Typical: a median of 5 bids per contract for IT and software contracts in this region (from 140 awards in the last 12 months).
What the notice says
The Information Commission (IC) is undertaking discovery for a future FOI Conciliation Service (FCS). We are inviting suppliers to this pre market engagement to share market insight on the feasibility, delivery approach and indicative timescales for a service capable of supporting the end-to-end handling and conciliation of Freedom of Information (FOI) complaints. Prior to commencing formal procurement, we are engaging the market to: •Refine and validate our understanding of the broader opportunity, to demonstrate best practice in the application of new technology whilst maintaining public trust. •Shape our requirements, drawing on sector best practices and supplier expertise to deliver a…Read the full description
The Information Commission (IC) is undertaking discovery for a future FOI Conciliation Service (FCS). We are inviting suppliers to this pre market engagement to share market insight on the feasibility, delivery approach and indicative timescales for a service capable of supporting the end-to-end handling and conciliation of Freedom of Information (FOI) complaints.
Prior to commencing formal procurement, we are engaging the market to:
•Refine and validate our understanding of the broader opportunity, to demonstrate best practice in the application of new technology whilst maintaining public trust.
•Shape our requirements, drawing on sector best practices and supplier expertise to deliver a solution.
•Gain insight into indicative delivery timelines, and the organisational conditions we would need to enable for success.
•Leverage supplier experience in delivering technology solutions for similar organisations.
•Test our current assumptions, identify proven or emerging delivery approaches, understand what products and features are available and ensure we are ready to progress
The Premarket engagement will run for four weeks from 21st October 2026 and will inform the subsequent tender specification. It is intended to tender with a robust specification that clearly defines our requirements and enables us to identify the solution that best meets the needs of the FOI FCS service.
Participation in this PME (Preliminary Market Engagement) is voluntary, and suppliers will not be disadvantaged in any subsequent procurement process by their decision to engage or not.
To assist the Information Commission to develop its proposed service requirements, the Information Commission would appreciate responses from interested potential providers to a questionnaire which is available via the Delta eSourcing Platform.
Please copy and paste this URL: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/992RKPA72P into your browser. For any technical queries regarding the Delta eSourcing Portal please contact Delta at helpdesk@delta-esourcing.com, or via telephone on [phone number removed].
Full PME documentation is available to you when you open the link/URL provided, which provides for you a full description of what the IC is looking for and a questionnaire for you to complete and submit via the Delta platform.
Responses to the questionnaire should be submitted by:
12:00 noon on Wednesday 18th November 2026
For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Wilmslow:-Software-package-and-information-systems./992RKPA72P
To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/992RKPA72P
How to bid
- Read the full notice on Find a Tender, including any tender documents it links to.
- Register your organisation on the Central Digital Platform (through Find a Tender) if you have not already. Suppliers need to be registered to take part in procurements under the Procurement Act 2023.
- Follow the submission instructions in the notice; it does not name an e-tendering portal.
Timeline
- Preliminary market engagement notice · UK2, notice 099433-2026
About the buyer
Information Commissioner's OfficeLast 12 months
Procurements
15Awards
13Suppliers it has used most for IT and software
- ABM Intelligence Limited1 contract
- Azeus UK Limited1 contract
- BT UK Ltd1 contract
- Jandnet Limited1 contract
- PA Consulting Ltd1 contract
Similar open tenders
All open IT and software tenders- £250mframework ceiling
- £300kestimated
- £15mframework ceiling
- £1mestimated
- £1.5mestimated
From notice 099433-2026 on Find a Tender, first published 21 October 2026. We last checked for changes on 21 October 2026.