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Pilot for Voting Hub 2026 Elections

Milton Keynes City Council

This public procurement record has 5 releases in its history.

ContractTermination

30 Jul 2026 at 11:01

UK11 - Contract Termination Notice
AwardUpdate

09 Apr 2026 at 08:48

UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Award

09 Apr 2026 at 08:36

UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Award

16 Mar 2026 at 14:36

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

03 Mar 2026 at 15:55

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Milton Keynes City Council procured software development services for the 2026 local-election voting hub pilot, involving Redditch Borough Council and other local authorities using Civica electoral management systems. The work covered development of Civica Polling Station software for Milton Keynes and Redditch elections, plus development of Xpress Electoral Management Software for Civica EMS clients participating in local-election pilots. The aim was to support advanced voting in hubs and on election day, offering more flexible and accessible voting while maintaining voter satisfaction, security, transparency and electoral integrity. This is specialist information technology work covering software development, software-related services, consulting and support. Delivery was associated with Milton Keynes, with the solution intended for participating local authorities and central government testing.

The procurement was completed through a direct award to Civica UK Limited under the prototypes and development justification for novel software developed at the Council’s request. The award was made on 16 March 2026 for £1,100,000 excluding VAT and £1,320,000 including VAT. The contract was signed on 27 March 2026 and ran from 1 April to 30 June 2026. The signed contract value was £1,027,841 excluding VAT and £1,233,409 including VAT. The contract was terminated on 30 July 2026 because it was completed; implementation ended on 30 June 2026 at the stated final value. There was one completed lot and the award was above the applicable threshold.

This procurement indicates demand for suppliers able to design, develop and support secure electoral software for public-sector pilot programmes. A credible competitor would need experience delivering novel or prototype systems at the request of a contracting authority, translating election-policy requirements into usable digital services, and integrating with established electoral management platforms. Relevant capability includes software architecture, development, testing, deployment and support for polling-station and electoral-management applications, together with strong information security, transparency and accessibility practices. Suppliers would also need to operate reliably across multiple councils and election environments, manage research and development risk, and demonstrate that their systems can protect the integrity of voting while improving flexibility and the voter experience.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Pilot for Voting Hub 2026 Elections

Notice Description

Milton Keynes City Council will be conducting a Direct award contract to Civica, for the required software development of: * (a) Civica Polling Station (CPS), on behalf of Milton Keynes City Council and Redditch Borough Council 2026 elections ; and * (b) Xpress Electoral Management Software (EMS) for all Civica EMS clients, participating in election pilots in local elections. Civica's software development of Xpress EMS and CPS will help local authorities to deliver "Advanced voting in hubs and on the day voting hubs" to achieve the pilots aim to modernise the voting experience by introducing greater flexibility, improving accessibility, and enhancing voter satisfaction while safeguarding the integrity, security, and transparency of the democratic process.

Procurement Information

It is considered that the Council can directly award a contract to develop the software for flexible voting pilots under the prototypes and development justification (Schedule 5 paragraphs 2 and 3). This justification may be used to directly award a contract where: The public contract concerns the production of a prototype or supply of other goods or services for the purposes of testing the suitability of the goods or services or researching the viability of producing or supplying the goods or services at scale and developing them for that purpose, or other research, experiment, study or development. The novel goods or services are goods or services designed or developed at the request of the contracting authority. The required software is a novel and will allow the Council, other local authorities participating in the trial and central government to test the suitability of the software as well as ability to deliver the flexible models for future elections. The required software is not currently available in the market and therefore competitive tendering is not feasible. The software development is being made at the request of the Council as required by regulation 5 of PA23

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06615e
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/072059-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK11 - Contract Termination Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

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

CPV Codes

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

72260000 - Software-related services

72262000 - Software development services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£1,100,000 £1M-£10M
Contracts Value
£1,027,841 £1M-£10M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
30 Jul 20262 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
16 Mar 20266 months ago
Contract Period
1 Apr 2026 - 30 Jun 2026 1-6 months
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Terminated

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Milton Keynes City Council
Additional Buyers

Redditch Borough Council

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

Buyer Location

Locality
MILTON KEYNES
Postcode
MK9 3EJ
Postcode Area
Milton Keynes
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLJ South East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLJ1 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLJ12 Milton Keynes
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Milton Keynes
Electoral Ward
Central Milton Keynes
Westminster Constituency
Milton Keynes Central

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Civica UK Limited

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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