Upcoming

Provision of Data on Commercial Shipping Services

Office for National Statistics · Central government

In brief

Office for National Statistics 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 £85,000 excluding VAT.

The contract runs for 3 years, starting 1 July 2026.

The buyer says it is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

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 89 awards in the last 12 months).

What the notice says

About the Office for National Statistics (ONS) ONS is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and is the National Statistical Institute for the UK. Formally, it is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-Ministerial Department established by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. It is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population, and society at national, regional and local levels. ONS plays a leading role in national and international good practice in the production of official statistics. Introduction The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a need for reliable, comprehensive, and…Read the full description
About the Office for National Statistics (ONS) ONS is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and is the National Statistical Institute for the UK. Formally, it is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-Ministerial Department established by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. It is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population, and society at national, regional and local levels. ONS plays a leading role in national and international good practice in the production of official statistics. Introduction The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a need for reliable, comprehensive, and easy-to-use information about the transport services provided or received by the UK shipping fleet, including any goods purchased during, or to support, the provision of transport. Overview We require Quarterly and Annual estimates are required broken down by ship type covering: - Passenger revenue collected outside the UK - Freight revenue for transporting goods - Charter receipts from a non-UK company - Charter payments to a non-UK company - Disbursements on bunkers/lubricants  - Disbursements on catering, ship stores and other goods - Disbursements on services purchased - Repair and maintenance costs - Ship management fees Disbursements are voyage-related expenses, mainly incurred when ships visit ports. Examples of the types of services purchased to include are: - Cargo handling - Warehousing/storage charges - Port dues, pilotage, and towage, - Canal dues (Suez, Panama etc.) - Maintenance of shore establishments abroad - Advances made to crews whilst abroad, whether UK nationals or not - Other Services such as agency fees/commissions incurred abroad It is essential for the data to be broken down into different ship types for both quarterly and annual data. Examples of ship types to include are: - Container, Bulk carrier, and Other Dry Cargo - Tanker and Liquefied Gas Carrier - Offshore support vessels/non-cargo - Cruise/Passenger ships and Roll-on Roll-off ferries It is essential that the annual data can also be further broken-down by the: - Load and unload country for freight data. - Country the passenger revenue is collected from overseas or the residency of the non-UK passenger for passenger revenue. - Country the disbursement is incurred in regardless of where the payment was made for all disbursements. - Nationality of the company or the country the ship is being chartered to or from for the chartering data. - Number of non-UK vessels managed by UK companies and UK vessels managed by non-UK owners for the ship management fees data. The data will need to be sent in an excel/csv format. The quarterly data will need to be available one month after the quarter has ended and the annual data available five months after the year has ended. The data collected will be used to derive and publish statistics on the provision of shipping services. These aggregated statistics feed into the calculation of UK Trade, Gross Domestic Product and Balance of Payments.  The types of organisations that should consider contacting us: Any type of shipping company that can provide the information above What can a contract with ONS offer? An opportunity to work with a world class statistics organisation, to create better and more timely statistics to be used by all for the benefit of the public good. There is a possibility for this work to be funded if all requirements are met by the provider. How to register When you have expressed an interest, please submit a return to [email removed] with the following information to allow ONS to have an understanding of what your company can offer. Please include as a minimum:  • Organisation Name  • Contact details   • Brief description of primary activity of organisation   • Type of data you can provide and support available   Any future tenders may be conducted through ONS's 'DPS Data SaSiE'. If you would like to sign up for this in readiness to receive any future tender packs, please search for the DPS title on the e-tendering portal and 'opt in'. This will take you through to the associated documentation for your organisation to apply. Additional Information This Exercise is NOT a pre-qualification or selection exercise and is NOT part of any pre-qualification or selection process that may apply to any future potential procurement. It is intended to act as an awareness and information gathering exercise offering an opportunity for suppliers to advise the extent to which they potentially can provide some or all the services that ONS may require, in order to help ONS with its future intentions.

How to bid

  1. Read the full notice on Find a Tender, including any tender documents it links to.
  2. 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.
  3. Follow the submission instructions in the notice; it does not name an e-tendering portal.

Timeline

  1. Preliminary market engagement notice · UK2, notice 024614-2026

Last time this was bought

UK Shipping Register Data

Awarded
1 February 2026
Value
Not stated, or split across lots
Contract ends
1 February 2029

Matched on Office for National Statistics, the type of work and the title. Check the notice to be sure.

About the buyer

Procurements

56

Awards

35

Suppliers it has used most for IT and software

  1. Provision of an E Bulk Solution for the Administration of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

    Caerphilly County Borough CouncilWalesRecruitment and staffing, IT services and software

    Closing soon4 days leftSuitable for SMEsSmall contract

    £100kestimated
  2. SCAPE Construction Works and Services Framework

    Scape Procure LimitedNorth East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, Wales, Northern IrelandEnergy and utilities, Construction

    Open8 days leftExpress interest5 lotsSuitable for SMEsFramework

    £8bnframework ceiling
  3. EV Charging Infrastructure

    National Grid UK LimitedNorth East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, WalesVehicles and fleet, IT services and software

    Open9 days leftExpress interest3 lots

    £29.9mestimated
  4. Media Monitoring Software

    Senedd Cymru / Welsh ParliamentWalesIT services and software

    Open11 days left4 lotsSuitable for SMEsSmall contract

    £93kestimated
  5. Provision and Implementation of an Integrated Business Solution

    Tai Tarian LtdWalesIT services and software

    Open12 days leftSuitable for SMEs

    £7mestimated

From notice 024614-2026 on Find a Tender, first published 18 March 2026. We last checked for changes on 28 September 2026.