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SOROS Subscription Agreement

SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

18 Aug 2026 at 18:48

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

18 Aug 2026 at 18:16

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

South Western Railway Limited procured a software-as-a-service subscription for the SOROS engineering and operational control platform. Danburykline will provide modules covering file sharing, production control, maintenance planning, train presentation, knowledge management, exceptions, briefings, incident management, engineering changes, competency management and related editing functions. SOROS supports engineering manual processes for traction and rolling-stock maintenance and is integrated into South Western Railway’s safety management system, engineering governance and established operational procedures. The requirement is for specialist railway engineering software and associated software services, delivered for South Western Railway’s fleet and engineering operations. The procurement is classified mainly as services and includes railway traffic control, productivity and scheduling software.

This procurement is complete and was awarded on 18 August 2026 to Danburykline Ltd. It used a direct award because Danburykline owns the intellectual property rights to the business-critical SOROS platform, and replacement would involve extensive process reconfiguration, data migration, documentation changes, retraining and safety-related technical risk. The award value is £943,051 excluding VAT, or £1,131,661 including VAT. The initial contract period is 29 August 2026 to 28 August 2028, with an option to extend by 12 months to 28 August 2029. The initial two-year term is estimated at £618,877 and the extension at £324,174. One lot was awarded. The contract is above threshold and subject to the utilities regime.

This procurement indicates demand for suppliers able to develop, maintain or support software embedded in safety-critical railway engineering and fleet-management processes. A credible future competitor would need strong expertise in railway maintenance operations, rolling-stock engineering, engineering manuals, production control, maintenance planning, incident management, competency management and operational reporting. Experience integrating software with established engineering workflows and system interfaces would be important, alongside capability in legacy-data migration, configuration, upgrades, cyber security and regulatory change. Suppliers would also need to demonstrate continuity, dependable support and careful change control, since disruption could affect safety management, engineering governance and fleet operations. Danburykline’s position as the SOROS intellectual-property owner was central to this award, so alternative suppliers would need a materially credible replacement or integration proposition.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

SOROS Subscription Agreement

Notice Description

Danburykline will provide SOROS on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis, including the following modules and functionality: Genius File Sharing Interface Production Control Module Maintenance Planning Module Train Presentation Module Knowledge Base Module Exceptions Module Briefings Module Incident Management Module Engineering Change Module Knowledge Base Editor Competency Module SOROS is used as a tool in many Engineering Manual processes, which form part of the SWR Safety Management System and is deeply integrated into established ways of working. The use of SOROS is essential to maintaining operational continuity and compliance with SWRL's safety and engineering governance arrangements.

Procurement Information

SOROS is a registered trademark of, registered with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) and is a business-critical control and coordination application, that is used extensively by the SWR Fleet function, to support the maintenance of traction and rolling stock. It is embedded within key engineering processes and forms part of the SWR Safety Management System. Migration to an alternative supplier would require extensive reconfiguration of existing engineering processes, substantial rewriting of Engineering Manual documentation, migration and validation of legacy data, user retraining and the implementation of new system interfaces. Given the safety-critical nature of the processes supported by SOROS, these activities could create significant operational disruption and disproportionate technical risk. This would also result in significant cost, resource requirements and operational risk, including potential impacts on safety-critical activities. Given Danburykline own the IPR to SOROS, and the disproportionate operational, technical and safety risks associated with replacement, SWRL considers that the conditions for a direct award under Schedule 5, Paragraph 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 are met.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e6fc
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078735-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

48 - Software package and information systems

60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport)

CPV Codes

48140000 - Railway traffic control software package

48300000 - Document creation, drawing, imaging, scheduling and productivity software package

60200000 - Railway transport services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£943,051 £500K-£1M
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
18 Aug 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
18 Aug 20261 months ago
Contract Period
29 Aug 2026 - 28 Aug 2028 2-3 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

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

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY LIMITED
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
SE1 9LQ
Postcode Area
South East London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI4 Inner London - East
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI44 Lewisham and Southwark
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Southwark
Electoral Ward
Borough & Bankside
Westminster Constituency
Bermondsey and Old Southwark

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

DANBURYKLINE LTD

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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