--- title: "Market Sounding Consultation Exercise for Data and Insights Platform" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "HUNTINGDONSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL" published: "2025-08-28" --- # Market Sounding Consultation Exercise for Data and Insights Platform Buyer: HUNTINGDONSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01.json) ## Summary Huntingdonshire District Council is conducting a Market Sounding Consultation Exercise for a Data and Insights Platform, aiming to explore innovative solutions tailored for future provision. This initiative is currently in the planning stage, with an engagement end date set for 8th September 2025. The Council, based in Huntingdon, United Kingdom, is focusing on the IT services sector, specifically consulting, software development, internet, and support services. This market engagement is meant to gather insights before issuing a formal tender, allowing the Council to refine their service specifications. Key elements of this engagement include understanding potential costs and approaches for a data platform inclusive of predictive analytics within a year. This consultation offers significant growth opportunities for businesses with expertise in IT services and data management, particularly those familiar with local government needs. SMEs are encouraged to express interest as their innovative solutions could greatly benefit from the Council's willingness to adopt novel approaches. Suppliers who can provide hosted platforms with strong governance, security controls, and sustainable deployment models will have a competitive edge. Businesses providing managed service governance and support, capable of demonstrating cost efficiency and immediate benefits, are particularly well-suited for this engagement, with the most compelling proposals moving forward to a competitive tendering process. ## Notice Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) is seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified suppliers for the future provision of a Hosted Platform for Data and Insights. This is a market engagement exercise, not an invitation to submit tenders or quotations. We are undertaking a market engagement to understand what the market can offer and what innovation providers can offer HDC. The market engagement will also help us to refine the service specification before going out either to tender. The objective of this market engagement exercise is to understand, through a Business Case proposal, the approaches and potential costs of implementing an appropriately designed and configured Data Platform (Data Lake, or Data Lakehouse), utilising pre-built Insights and Predictive Analytics capabilities, as used within other Local Government customers, within twelve months. We are also seeking to: i) Understand the deployment models available to enable either a segmented shared single platform, or separate data platforms for each Council, alongside the maintenance and sustainability consideration of each; ii) Establish appropriate governance (policy and procedural), security controls, and platform administration approaches to deliver against proven templated models, and providing training/mentoring to 3C ICT and Council staff to ensure future continued compliance. Consideration of a Managed Service Governance and Control model. iii) Benefit from a Managed Service and support approach to maintain the delivered functionality (such as data pipeline monitoring and maintenance) and to respond to system changes and reconfigurations, as necessary iv) Understand the cost avoidance/cashable benefits realised by other Local Authorities in undertaking a similar approach to that presented, and to be able to articulate the immediate and future benefits of adopting the approach presented The proposals will then be evaluated to select the best 4/5 submissions to submit full proposal and participate in a competitive tendering process. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a5977248-6d9a-4aca-bc4c-645bdb275493 | | Notice type | Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Not specified | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 28 Aug 2025 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 8 Sep 2025 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | HUNTINGDONSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL | | Locality | HUNTINGDON | | Post town | Peterborough | | Postcode | PE29 3TN | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLH East (England) | | ITL 2 | TLH4 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | | ITL 3 | TLH42 Cambridgeshire CC | | Local authority | Huntingdonshire | | Electoral ward | Huntingdon North | | Westminster constituency | Huntingdon | | Delivery location | TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLH East (England), TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ### Codes - 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ## Release History - 28 Aug 2025 at 16:41 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a5977248-6d9a-4aca-bc4c-645bdb275493 - 31 Jul 2025 at 07:58 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d74976b6-dcc7-4a43-ab75-66fb142591c0 ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a5977248-6d9a-4aca-bc4c-645bdb275493 28th August 2025 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d74976b6-dcc7-4a43-ab75-66fb142591c0 31st July 2025 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=8c295909-956c-f011-813a-005056b64545 Advert ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c575ad81-3058-4eed-92de-049cbde23f01.json.