---
title: "Contentful CMS for NRE & new industry website"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c6"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c6"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c6.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c6.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "RAIL DELIVERY GROUP LIMITED"
published: "2026-07-09"
---

# Contentful CMS for NRE & new industry website

Buyer: RAIL DELIVERY GROUP LIMITED  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c6

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## Summary

The Rail Delivery Group Limited, a major public undertaking based in London, is overseeing a procurement process related to the Contentful CMS for the NRE and a new industry website. This project falls under the services category specific to system, storage, and content management software packages. The procurement process is at the award stage with a direct award method and is slated to start on 22nd July 2026, running until 27th June 2029, with options for extensions. The awarded supplier is Contentful (UK) Limited. Key elements involve integration with existing rail infrastructure and maintaining continuity without disruption, which highlights the technical challenges and dependencies intrinsic to this contract.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses experienced in delivering complex content management solutions. Companies proficient in software programming, consultancy services, and capable of navigating intricate system integration would be particularly well-suited. The contract allows for additional similar services, indicating potential for further business growth and engagement. The project’s alignment with rail industry systems and ongoing digital transformation initiatives within the UK’s rail infrastructure underscores its strategic importance, offering suitable firms the chance to contribute to and expand their footprint in a technically demanding yet rewarding sector.

## Notice

NRE is the UK's most used digital channel used by more customers, more often, than any other UK digital channel - it is a vital part of the UK's rail infrastructure. NRE and the new website have been built on Contentful. Contentful is a modern, headless CMS and forms the foundation and backbone of NRE architecture. NRE uses Contentful API based technology to serve a React and NextJS front end for desktop, mobile web and iOS and Android Apps. o Hosted on RDG's AWS instance. o Contentful also integrates seamlessly with core RDG rail systems including Darwin and RTJP, Fares Finder and IDMS. o Integrated with RDG upstream and downstream technology systems including Cloudflare, Algolia, Google Tag Manager and Google Ad Manager technology within the tech stack aligned to RDG's architecture principles. o Contentful used to create rail industry feeds with seven critical information APIs known as the Knowledgebase feeds. These are: Stations, Incidents, Ticket Restrictions, Ticket types, Operators, Promotions and National Service Indicator. o Feeds are consumed by TOCs and TPRs as core information feeds Replacing Contentful with an alternative CMS is technically extremely complicated and would require an architecture and technology transformation within RDG and reintegration of the feeds by DFTO and Open Access, and devolved nation TOCs. Such a transformation is possible but with high levels of technically complex, high risk, high cost and organisationally disruptive transformation with cost and continuity impacts on a range of other RDG systems and suppliers. Technical dependency and incompatibility evidence Contentful underpins: * Content models and structured data used across NRE and and the new website * API-based delivery to web, mobile web, and native applications * Integration with Darwin, RTJP, fares systems, IDMS and Knowledgebase APIs * Integration with AWS hosting, Cloudflare, Algolia and analytics tooling * Publishing workflows, permissions models, and governance processes Replacement with an alternative CMS would require: * Migration of all structured content and content models * Rebuild of APIs and downstream data feeds used by TOCs and third parties * Redesign of integrations with multiple internal and external systems * Full regression testing across all digital channels * Reconfiguration of operational editorial workflows and governance These changes would produce a technically different solution and create material incompatibility with existing services, consistent with Schedule 5 paragraph 7. The CMS market In 2020/21 RDG conducted a procurement exercise for the best enterprise level CMS for NRE. Contentful was selected against a range of criteria, including cost, technical fit to architecture principles and longevity, in competition with a range of market leading enterprise CMS providers, including Sitecore, Adobe and Episerver, as well as a range of opensource options including Drupal and two proprietary CMS's. Organisational context RDG and NRE as part of it, is transitioning to GBR through 2027 and GBR online retail is expected to go live in October 2027. Replacing Contentful From the explanation above, it should be clear that technically Contentful can be replaced, but only through the wholesale redevelopment of NRE, re-building and re-integrating critical industry feeds with all independent and government owner train operators. The approximate costs of which are discussed below. It should be noted that in the event of an alternative CMS being successful in a procurement exercise that is not supported by RDG's incumbent Delivery delivery partner, RDG would also be required to replace the Delivery delivery partner. This is turn should be carried out via a further procurement process. If Contentful is to be replaced, NRE website and iOS and Android Apps would need to be re-platformed / rebuilt and architected. In addition, new knowledgebase feeds would have to be rebuilt and reintegrated with all TOCs and TRPs either directly or via RDM. Estimating the cost of such an exercise is difficult. Development costs of NRE were significant in 2021 with a further costs for both the iOS and Android Apps in 2024. Continuous improvement (enhancements and development) has been in progress since 2021 at a high cost per annum. The re-platform costs would be likely to reach at least 75% of this total . Additional RDG costs would be incurred to resource the new development and dual run with the existing team. Over an 18 month development project the resource costs alone would be significant.

### Procurement Information

The technical activities described above would: * Require redevelopment of core platform components already in production use; * Introduce operational risk during migration and dual running; * Require coordination across multiple third-party integrations and industry stakeholders; * Result in increased maintenance complexity and risk of service disruption. RDG considers that these impacts go beyond normal transition costs and represent disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance, as intended by Schedule 5 paragraph 7.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/064438-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 9 Jul 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 5 Jul 2026 |
| Contract period | 21 Jul 2026 - 27 Jun 2029 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £667,972 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | RAIL DELIVERY GROUP LIMITED |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | Central London |
| Postcode | EC4V 3DS |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | City of London |
| Electoral ward | Castle Baynard |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | CONTENTFUL (UK |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems
- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 48780000 - System, storage and content management software package
- 72200000 - Software programming and consultancy services

## Release History

- 9 Jul 2026 at 07:02 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/064438-2026
- 8 Jul 2026 at 15:30 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/064386-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/064438-2026
  9th July 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/064386-2026
  8th July 2026 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-h6vhtk-06c6c6. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06c6c6.json.