---
title: "UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement Notice: London Borough of Newham Planning Service Digital Transformation"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078169"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078169"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078169.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078169.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "Newham Council"
published: "2026-10-06"
---

# UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement Notice: London Borough of Newham Planning Service Digital Transformation

Buyer: Newham Council  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078169

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## Summary

Newham Council is exploring digital systems and services to modernise its statutory planning (Development Management) service in London. The intended scope covers the end-to-end planning application process: pre-application, submission and intake, validation, consultation and notification, assessment, decisions and decision reporting, together with customer-facing planning portals or registers. Potential solutions include case-management systems, digital document management and workflows, self-service portals, validation and consultation tools, officer assessment support, report-generation tools, geographic information system integration, artificial intelligence, automation and mobile tools for planning officers. The aim is to improve customer and officer experience, efficiency, data quality and reporting, and help the service respond to growth and housing demand. Appeals management is outside the current programme scope.

This is at the planning and preliminary market-engagement stage: Newham is seeking supplier input through a request for information and questionnaire to shape its business case and procurement strategy, not inviting tenders. The stated route to any future procurement will follow the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations, but the route to market has not yet been decided. The Council’s engagement timetable anticipated publication on 5 October 2026 and responses by 11.30pm on 23 October 2026. The planning period shown for the single lot runs from 7 to 23 October 2026. The listed estimated value is £0 gross. Responses are intended to inform decisions on the business case and how a future procurement could be brought to market; these dates relate to the engagement, not a bid deadline.

This early engagement is relevant to suppliers of development-management software, planning portals and related services, intelligent document processing, and artificial intelligence or automation already deployed in statutory planning or local government. Newham welcomes suppliers of all sizes, including SMEs, specialist providers and local-government technology partners. Suppliers should be able to explain how their solutions support planning work across application intake, validation, consultation, assessment and decisions, as well as customer self-service, digital workflows, reporting and spatial insight. The Council is looking for proven technologies and innovative solutions that can reduce manual administration, improve the speed and consistency of planning decisions, and support staff to focus on professional work. Suppliers with integrated offerings or relevant delivery models may also contribute to shaping the future procurement approach. The engagement itself is for market input, not a tender competition.

## Notice

Context and purpose As part of the London Borough of Newham's Placemaking and Whole Council Digital Transformation strategies, the Council has commenced work on a programme of digital transformation within its statutory planning (Development Management) service. The programme aims to modernise and digitise planning processes, improve customer and officer experience, increase operational efficiency, strengthen data quality, improve reporting and support future service demand. Newham is seeking to engage with the market to better understand available solutions, proven technologies, opportunities for innovation and potential delivery models that can support the digital transformation journey across the end-to-end statutory planning process. Potential areas of interest include: * Statutory planning application end-to-end case management systems * Digital document management and workflows * Customer self-service portals (pre-application, application, post application) * Planning application validation tools * Planning consultation and notification tools * Solutions supporting case officer assessment * Assessment and decision reports creation and solutions * GIS and spatial planning integration * Proven artificial intelligence and automation capabilities * Mobile solutions for planning officers * Other solutions delivering benefits across the end-to-end statutory planning process not listed above This engagement will inform Newham's procurement strategy and business case development.

### Planning Information

Context and purpose
As part of the London Borough of Newham’s Placemaking and Whole Council Digital Transformation strategies, the Council has commenced work on a programme of digital transformation within its statutory planning (Development Management) service.
The programme aims to modernise and digitise planning processes, improve customer and officer experience, increase operational efficiency, strengthen data quality, improve reporting and support future service demand.
Newham is seeking to engage with the market to better understand available solutions, proven technologies, opportunities for innovation and potential delivery models that can support the digital transformation journey across the end-to-end statutory planning process.
Potential areas of interest include:
•
Statutory planning application end-to-end case management systems
•
Digital document management and workflows
•
Customer self-service portals (pre-application, application, post application)
•
Planning application validation tools
•
Planning consultation and notification tools
•
Solutions supporting case officer assessment
•
Assessment and decision reports creation and solutions
•
GIS and spatial planning integration
•
Proven artificial intelligence and automation capabilities
•
Mobile solutions for planning officers
•
Other solutions delivering benefits across the end-to-end statutory planning process not listed above
This engagement will inform Newham’s procurement strategy and business case development.
Programme objectives
The Council would like to explore solutions that can support delivery of the following:
•
Streamline the end-to-end planning processes through business process improvement, automation and digital workflows.
•
Reduce administrative burden and manual workarounds and enable officers to focus on value-adding professional planning activities and decision-making.
•
Improve customer experience through intuitive digital self-service
•
Improve the speed, quality and consistency of validation, assessment and determination activities.
•
Enable the use of artificial intelligence to support validation, case management, consultation handling and reporting.
•
Establish a data-driven and intelligence-led service through improved data quality, operational reporting and spatial insight.
•
Support Newham’s economic growth, regeneration and housing delivery goals through a more visible, efficient and responsive planning service.
Programmescope
At this stage of the programme scope is concerned with core development management planning functions:
•
Pre-application
•
Application submission and intake/receipt
•
Validation
•
Consultation and notification
•
Assessment
•
Decision
•
Decision reporting
•
Customer-facing planning portal(s)/planning register
The management of appeals is not currently in scope.
Scope of preliminary market engagement
The Council is interested in hearing from suppliers who can provide:
•
Specialist or relevant planning software solutions
•
Development Management systems
•
Customer-facing planning portals and services
•
Intelligent document processing
•
Proven artificial intelligence and automation solutions deployed within a statutory planning/development management context within local government
During preliminary market engagement, the Council is undertaking:
•
A Request for Information (RFI)
•
A supplier questionnaire
Key dates
5 October 2026
Date of publication of UK UK2 Notice and invitation to submit responses.
23 October 2026
Closing date for responses. (11:30pm)
Responses to the RFI will support business case development and route to market decision making.
Information requested from suppliers
Suppliers are invited to submit responses by completion of the following questionnaire:
London Borough of Newham Planning Service Digital Transformation RFI – Fill in form
The closing date for responses is 11.30pm Friday 23 October 2026.
Additional information
This notice is for preliminary market engagement purposes only and does not constitute a call for competition, procurement, award process or a commitment by the Council to commence a procurement.
Any future procurement will be conducted in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations.
We welcome engagement from suppliers of all sizes, including SMEs and specialist providers and local government technology partners.
Contact information
Please note, suppliers are invited to complete the supplier questionnaire in response to this preliminary market engagement request for information.
To adhere to the principles governing procurement in the UK, publication of this UK2 notice ensures transparency, early market visibility and equal treatment for suppliers.
Newham is therefore not anticipating the need for separate communications outside of this process, at this early stage, except in the case of technical issues with form completion or submission.
In these cases, suppliers are welcome to contact the Council by sending an email copying both the programme procurement and transformations leads shown below, to ensure a timely response.
We thank you for your time and interest in responding to the supplier questionnaire.
Stuart Simpson, Procurement Lead
London Borough of Newham
stuart.simpson@newham.gov.uk

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/094132-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 6 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 7 Oct 2026 - 23 Oct 2026 |
| 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 | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Newham Council |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Postcode area | East London |
| Postcode | E16 2QU |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI4 Inner London - East |
| ITL 3 | TLI41 Hackney and Newham |
| Local authority | Newham |
| Electoral ward | Royal Albert |
| Westminster constituency | West Ham and Beckton |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems

### Codes

- 48000000 - Software package and information systems

## Release History

- 6 Oct 2026 at 10:38 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/094132-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/094132-2026
  6th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement 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-078169. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078169.json.