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Conversational AI Platform

Department for Work & Pensions

This public procurement record has 5 releases in its history.

Tender

02 Jan 2026 at 09:53

UK4 - Tender Notice
PlanningUpdate

21 Nov 2025 at 15:24

UK3 - Planned Procurement Notice
Planning

18 Sep 2025 at 12:44

UK3 - Planned Procurement Notice
Planning

27 Jun 2025 at 11:07

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

12 Jun 2025 at 16:07

UK1 - Pipeline Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has initiated a tender for the provision of a Conversational AI Platform, designed to enhance citizen interaction and operational efficiency within its contact centres, the largest in Europe. The procurement falls under the services category, specifically targeting industries related to interactive voice response software, call centres, integrated telecommunications services, and IT consulting. Based in London, DWP seeks to employ a Competitive Flexible Procedure for this service, conducting the procurement electronically. Key stages include a two-part process—an Invitation to Participate followed by an Invitation to Tender—with the final award expected by 1 June 2026. Suppliers must express interest by 2 February 2026, underscoring crucial deadlines such as the enquiry period ending on 16 January 2026.

This tender presents substantial business growth opportunities, particularly for firms specialising in natural language processing, AI technologies, and telecommunications. The competitive procedure allows suppliers to showcase their strengths in providing innovative solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing systems, thus enhancing DWP's service delivery. Firms possessing technical prowess and financial stability, along with the capability to meet stringent UK procurement standards, are ideally positioned to compete. The estimated contract value of £19.5 million also indicates significant revenue potential, while the openness to SMEs suggests that smaller enterprises with niche capabilities could benefit from engaging in this procurement process.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Conversational AI Platform

Notice Description

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ("the Authority") is responsible for welfare, pensions, and child maintenance policy within the UK. As the UK's biggest public service department, it administers the State Pension and a range of working age and disability benefits to around 20 million UK citizens. The Authority is committed to doing everything it can to enhance the overall citizen experience. Citizens contact the Authority wishing to start, validate, change or query their benefit claims. Citizens calling from within the UK contact the Authority via free of charge Non-Geographic Numbers ("NGNs") or via web chat when wishing to discuss their individual circumstances with regards to a type of service/benefit they have with the Authority. NGNs are currently answered by advisors within the Authority's contact centre, which is the largest platform of its kind across all UK government departments and is one of the largest in Europe. The contact centre managed service ensures that all twenty-seven business groups, spread across around 200 locations, can connect with and support citizens, whilst also offering specialist services such as debt recovery and support for citizens with complex needs. Conversational AI Platform ("CaiP") is a natural language call steering ("NLCS") solution which allows citizens to speak naturally to the platform so it can determine why our citizens are calling. This enables the guiding of the citizen to the most effective outcome, whether that is to the right agent first time or to personalised call deflection and/or self-service offerings. This should enhance the citizen experience and produce operational efficiencies. The CaiP service will integrate with the Authority's contact centre to help better serve millions of citizens by improving how DWP handles inbound calls, route queries intelligently, and offer self-service options.

Planning Information

Interested suppliers should complete the following steps: 1. Register on the Portal: Goto https://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk and click the link to ‘register’. To attend the webinar suppliers should complete this step prior to 4th July 2025. Suppliers registering after this date will need to download the webinar materials for offline review. All documentation for this market engagement, including the Request for Information (RFI) document requesting your response will be accessed via the DWP e-Sourcing portal (the Portal) which is based on the Jaggaer software and is free of charge to use. For further assistance in relation to the Portal please consult the online help or contract the eTendering help desk. 2. Express interest in the market engagement: Login to the Portal and click the 'PQQs / ITTs Open to all Suppliers' link. Click on the “pqq_28963 - Conversational Platform” link to access the RFI content. Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. This will move the market engagement activity into your 'My PQQs/ My ITTs' page, a secure area reserved for your own projects. You can now access all the DWP documentation by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the 'PQQ Details' box. Please note that this process is not being conducted as a formal Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) but we are using the PQQ functionality within the portal to facilitate the market engagement process. 3. Download the RFI and attend the webinar: The RFI document can be downloaded from the ‘Buyer Attachments’ areas. Suppliers should read this document in detail. DWP will host a webinar on Microsoft Teams at 10.00-12.00 on 4th July 2025 to provide background and context to our requirement and answer any initial questions. Following the webinar, DWP will publish the associated slides and any captured Q&A. We request that suppliers limit their participants to two individuals per company. 4. Engaging in the RFI: Click 'My Response' under 'PQQ/ ITT Details' where you can choose to 'Create Response' or to 'Decline to Respond' (please give a reason, if declining). Any decision not to participate in this market engagement will not preclude any supplier from participation in any subsequent procurement activity. You will then be able to use the 'Messages' functionality to seek any further clarifications, provided any questions are submitted by 12:00 on 11th July 2025. In the interest of openness and transparency, anonymised and commercially desensitised Q&A will be shared will all participants. DWP will aim to respond to all questions received in reasonable time for suppliers to factor these answers into your response but, if this is not possible, DWP does not anticipate moving the RFI deadline. Please prioritise questions accordingly. 5. Responding to the RFI: Please upload your response as an attachment to the single ‘Question’ within the ‘Technical Envelope’ prior to the 09:00 on 21st July 2025 deadline, using the 'Submit Response' button. Submissions must be made using the Portal. In addition to the RFI response the supplier can also share any additional information they might wish DWP to do aware of as part of this process. Unfortunately, DWP will not be able to consider any responses or additional material received after this deadline. Please note that the market engagement activity will not be used to formally evaluate suppliers. Any information shared will be for information purposes only to provide insights and inform DWP of market capabilities. Any information received or discussions held will not contribute or influence the evaluation of potential tender submissions of any related future procurement. 6. RFI Follow-Up & Demonstrations: The purpose of the RFI is to gather specific insights on key solution areas and options. DWP may request further clarifications of aspects of any of the RFI responses received, and/or engage in further detailed supplier discussions to gather deeper insights. Specifically, DWP may invite some or all the responding suppliers to demonstrate their capabilities. Suppliers who have not responded to the RFI will not be invited to conduct demonstrations. Demonstrations will be scheduled to take place shortly after the RFI deadline, and DWP will aim to complete these by 1st August 2025.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-0547fa
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000007-2026
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Planning, Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK4 - Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Selective
Procurement Method Details
Competitive flexible procedure
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

48 - Software package and information systems

64 - Postal and telecommunications services

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

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

CPV Codes

48512000 - Interactive voice response software package

64227000 - Integrated telecommunications services

72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

79512000 - Call centre

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£19,500,000 £10M-£100M
Lots Value
£19,500,000 £10M-£100M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
2 Jan 20267 months ago
Submission Deadline
16 Jan 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
5 Jan 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
6 Jul 2026 - 5 Jul 2030 4-5 years
Recurrence
2030-01-07

Notice Status

Tender Status
Active
Lots Status
Active
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Department for Work & Pensions
Additional Buyers

Department for Work and Pensions

Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
SW1H 9NA
Postcode Area
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
St James's
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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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