Planning

National Transport Analysis Platform

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

PlanningUpdate

24 Mar 2025 at 13:54

Planning

21 Mar 2025 at 16:14

Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Transport (DfT) is currently in the planning stage for a procurement process to develop a National Transport Analysis Platform. This initiative falls within the analytical software development services industry and is intended to be used at a national level within the United Kingdom. The project aims to deliver a robust, scalable, and distributed analytical platform that combines various analytical disciplines to support national transport policies. Key dates include the Capability Assessment (CA) Submission deadline on 1 April 2025 and the start of the contract on 2 July 2025. This procurement is part of an end-to-end solution encompassing transport modelling, appraisal analysis, and result visualisation, with a gross value of £480,000.

This tender presents significant business growth opportunities, particularly for companies specialising in analytical, scientific, mathematical, or forecasting software development. It is well-suited for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) that can showcase advanced technical capabilities and a collaborative approach. The requirement for scalable solutions implies a preference for innovative companies capable of handling extensive data processing and visualisation tasks efficiently, making it an attractive opportunity for businesses with expertise in the latest industry best practices and technologies.

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Notice Title

National Transport Analysis Platform

Notice Description

The DfT requires an analytical platform that is robust, scalable, distributed, combining methods across analytical disciplines to produce analysis for national transport policies. This requires an end-to-end solution from transport modelling through appraisal analysis to visualisation of results. The scale and expectations of the use of analysis in policy making has increased significantly and we are looking for a system to help us meet that analytical need. While remaining with the same staffing levels. Current situation The national transport model has around 7,100 zones, 136,000 links, 46,000 nodes, 5 assigned user classes, 3 time periods, route choice for the assigned demand segments (apart from buses that are a pre-load). In the demand model there are 8 Journey Purposes, mode choice for 6 modes, and destination choice. Typically to use the national transport model takes around 5 working days. 1 day to setup and quality assure the inputs and assumptions, half a day to setup and run the LGV model and the freight model, 11-12 hours to run a forecast year through both VDM and highway assignment, anything from half a day to 2 days to check the model results, and then a similar amount of time to generate presentation quality visualisations. All these stages have significant amounts of manual quality assurance, and manual data handling, with the exception of validating the approach and the setup data, all the internal manual handling and QA are in scope for being removed with as many modules running in parallel as possible.

Planning Information

Stage 1 – Capability Assessment following the shortlisting of suppliers by TASM to identify suppliers that can meet their requirements. Suppliers must be able to answer yes to all the capability assessment questions to become shortlisted for stage 2. A collaborative approach should be demonstrated which allows for requirements to be altered based on needs and risks which we expect to evolve through the discovery, proof of concept and pilot stages. This allows for joint problem solving with prospective suppliers encouraging the latest industry best practices including use of technology. Stage 2 – Suppliers who meet all the criteria will be invited to a supplier day to present their capability. Stage 3 –If you meet the customer’s criteria for being invited, your presentation will be evaluated against the published capability assessment criteria and the successful bidder(s) will be notified. If the Department is satisfied your tool meets our requirements you will be invited to tender for the opportunity. Scalable national transport analysis platform Procurement Timetable The timetable below is indicative and may change if necessary. Suppliers will be informed of any changes promptly. Publish Capability Assessment (CA) 21 March 2025 CA Clarification period open 21 March 2025 CA Clarification period closes 28 March 2025 @ 13:00 CA Clarification response published 31 March 2025 @ 17:00 CA Submission deadline 1 April 2025 @ 16:00 Review CA’s 4 April – 10 April 2025 Supplier Event preparation 11 April – 17 April 2025 Supplier Day (to include demos) 21 – 22 April 2025 ITT Preparation 23 April – 29 April 2025 ITT Publication 1 May 2025 ITT Clarification period opens 1 May 2025 ITT Clarification period closes 14 May 2025 ITT Clarification responses published 19 May 2025 ITT Submission deadline 28 May 2025 Evaluation / Moderation 2 - 6 June 2025 Intention to Award 9 June 2025 Alcatel period 10 June – 20 June 2025 Contract Award 23 June 2025 Draft Contract documentation 25 June 2025 Indicative Contract Phases Start of Contract 2 July 2025 Inception meeting – London 2 July 2025 Discovery phase ends 18 July 2015 Proof of concept phase ends 10 October 2025 Pilot stage ends 16 January 2026

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-04f797
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/010915-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support


CPV Codes

72212460 - Analytical, scientific, mathematical or forecasting software development services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£400,000 £100K-£500K
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
24 Mar 202511 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
1 May 2025Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Jul 2025 - 1 Jul 2026 6-12 months
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT
Contact Name
Jason Thrupp
Contact Email
jason.thrupp@dft.gov.uk
Contact Phone
+447483980296

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
SW1P 4DR
Post Town
South West London
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI3 Inner London - West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI35 Westminster and City of London
Delivery Location
Not specified

Local Authority
Westminster
Electoral Ward
Vincent Square
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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