AWARD OUTCOME
What happened
Norfolk County Council has published an award notice for its Future Infrastructure Programme, split between network and server infrastructure. The two awards remain pending, with signature scheduled after the standstill period.
Published outcomeLot 1 Network is awarded pending to SPECIALIST COMPUTER CENTRES PLC at £2,290,081.97 excluding VAT. Lot 2 Server is awarded pending to CDW LIMITED at £606,384.92 excluding VAT.
Market significanceThe published net award values total £2,896,466.89. The programme replaces legacy network infrastructure and virtual/hyperconverged server infrastructure across Norfolk County Council and some partners.
AWARDED SUPPLIERS AND LOTS
2 supplier records analysed
SPECIALIST COMPUTER CENTRES PLC
99% confidenceAward 1 · Lots Lot 1 – Network · 2290081.97 GBP · Pending award
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Award 1 names SPECIALIST COMPUTER CENTRES PLC as supplier, relates to Lot 1, has pending status and a net value of £2,290,081.97.
CDW LIMITED
99% confidenceAward 2 · Lots Lot 2 – Server · 606384.92 GBP · Pending award
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Award 2 names CDW LIMITED as supplier, relates to Lot 2, has pending status and a net value of £606,384.92.
LIFECYCLE
Award or contract stage
Notice status
99% confidenceContract award notice published; both awards are pending
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The notice is labelled “Contract award notice on Find a Tender”; awards 1 and 2 each have status “pending”.
Standstill period
99% confidenceEnds 29 October 2026, 23:59:59 UTC
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Each award records standstillPeriod.endDate as 2026-10-29T23:59:59Z.
Signature milestone
99% confidenceScheduled for 30 October 2026
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Each award has a futureSignatureDate milestone due 2026-10-30T23:59:59Z.
Contract status
99% confidenceNot evidenced as signed or commenced
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Both awards are pending and signature is only scheduled; no signed-contract evidence is supplied.
VALUES
Published values explained
Lot 1 net award value
99% confidence£2,290,081.97 excluding VAT
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Award 1 value.amount is 2290081.97 GBP; amountGross is 2748098.36 GBP.
Lot 1 gross award value
99% confidence£2,748,098.36 including VAT
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Award 1 value.amountGross is 2748098.36 GBP.
Lot 2 net award value
99% confidence£606,384.92 excluding VAT
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Award 2 value.amount is 606384.92 GBP; amountGross is 727661.9 GBP.
Lot 2 gross award value
99% confidence£727,661.90 including VAT
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Award 2 value.amountGross is 727661.9 GBP.
Combined net award value
99% confidence£2,896,466.89 excluding VAT
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Sum of the two published award net values: £2,290,081.97 plus £606,384.92.
Published opportunity maximum
95% confidence£7,000,000 GBP
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The process record gives value_max as 7000000 GBP.
TIMELINE
Procurement timeline
Tender notice update published
98% confidence12 February 2026
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Process published_at is 2026-02-12T11:54:26Z.
Submission deadline
99% confidence2 March 2026, 11:00 UTC
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Process submission_deadline is 2026-03-02T11:00:00Z.
Award decision date
99% confidence20 October 2026
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Both award records have date 2026-10-20T00:00:00+01:00.
Award notice published
99% confidence20 October 2026
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Award notice document datePublished is 2026-10-20T16:08:15+01:00.
Planned contract period
98% confidence30 October 2026 to 29 October 2029
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Each pending award records contractPeriod startDate 2026-10-30 and endDate 2029-10-29.
SCOPE
What was awarded
Programme structure
99% confidenceTwo lots: Network and Server
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The procurement description states it is split into Lot 1 (Network) and Lot 2 (Server).
Lot 1 scope
98% confidenceReplacement network equipment and services, including legacy Huawei network replacement, Wi‑Fi, firewalls, switches, access points and optional content filtering
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The published description specifies these Lot 1 requirements and support for the Council’s zero-trust network strategy.
Lot 2 scope
99% confidenceReplacement virtual server infrastructure and hyperconverged virtual server infrastructure
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The published description specifies this Lot 2 requirement.
Delivery geography
98% confidenceUKH15, UKH16 and UKH17 regions, United Kingdom
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Each award item lists delivery addresses in UKH15, UKH16 and UKH17.
Classification
99% confidenceSoftware package and information systems; IT services including consulting, software development, internet and support
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Both award items list CPV 48000000 and 72000000.
PROCEDURE
Procedure and competition
Procurement method
99% confidenceSelective
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Process procurement_method is “selective”.
Procedure detail
99% confidenceCompetitive flexible procedure
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Process procurement_method_details is “Competitive flexible procedure”.
Above-threshold status
99% confidenceYes, for both awards
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Each award records aboveThreshold as true.
Bidder count and evaluation results
99% confidenceUnknown
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Information not supplied in the published notice data.
CONTRACT TERMS
Published contract terms
Planned term
98% confidenceThree years, from 30 October 2026 to 29 October 2029
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Each award’s contractPeriod runs from 2026-10-30 to 2029-10-29.
Lot 1 options
97% confidencePotential phases 2–4 of the WAN rollout and additional network equipment, support and professional services during the contract life
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Award 1 options description reserves these rights subject to the stated terms and invitation-to-final-tender form.
Lot 2 options
97% confidencePotential additional server equipment and associated support during the contract life
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Award 2 options description reserves these rights subject to the stated terms and invitation-to-final-tender form.
Extension terms
99% confidenceUnknown
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No extension duration or mechanism is published in the supplied notice data.
COMMERCIAL VIEW
Commercial observations
Award allocation
98% confidenceNetwork is the larger published award, accounting for approximately 79% of the combined net award value
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Lot 1 is £2,290,081.97 net and total published net awards are £2,896,466.89; calculation is approximately 79.1%.
Technology direction
98% confidenceThe programme combines network modernisation, including replacement of legacy Huawei-based equipment, with server-platform refresh
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The scope describes replacement of the legacy Huawei-based network and replacement virtual/hyperconverged server infrastructure.
Additional-purchase headroom
98% confidenceBoth lots include stated rights for further purchases during the planned term
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Both awards have hasOptions true and describe additional purchases of relevant equipment and support/services.
DATA QUALITY
Gaps and source limitations
Pending award status
99% confidenceThe notice reports pending awards rather than signed or active contracts
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Awards 1 and 2 have status “pending”, and future signature dates are scheduled.
Value interpretation
99% confidencePublished award values include both net and gross figures; this analysis labels them separately
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Each award provides value.amount and value.amountGross.
Lot metadata
99% confidenceFormal lot titles, descriptions and lot-level estimated values are not separately supplied in the lot records
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Lot records contain IDs and status but null title, description and value fields.
Competition and evaluation
99% confidenceInformation not supplied in the published notice
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No bid count, scoring, ranking or award rationale is included in the supplied data.
SOURCE DATA LIMITATIONS
Information not supplied in the published notice
- The published awards are pending; the data does not evidence signed contracts, contract commencement or completed delivery.
- No bidder count, evaluation scores, award rationale, pricing breakdown or savings information is supplied.
- No extension duration or detailed renewal mechanism is published.
- Formal lot records do not provide separate lot titles, descriptions or estimated values; lot scopes are drawn from the process description and award titles.
- The process-level £7,000,000 maximum is not stated to be an awarded value and is not allocated between suppliers.
MARKET THEMES
Relevant award themes
Norfolk County CouncilFuture Infrastructure ProgrammeSPECIALIST COMPUTER CENTRES PLCCDW LIMITEDnetwork infrastructureserver infrastructurepublic procurement
COMMON QUESTIONS
About this award
Who received the Future Infrastructure Programme awards?
SPECIALIST COMPUTER CENTRES PLC is the pending awardee for Lot 1 Network, and CDW LIMITED is the pending awardee for Lot 2 Server.
What are the published award values?
Lot 1 is £2,290,081.97 excluding VAT and Lot 2 is £606,384.92 excluding VAT.
Are the contracts signed?
No signed contracts are evidenced in the supplied data. Both awards are pending, with signature scheduled for 30 October 2026.
What is being procured?
The programme covers replacement network equipment and services plus replacement virtual and hyperconverged server infrastructure.
ProcuraAxis award analysis supplements, but does not replace, the official award notice, contract data or procurement documents. “Awarded” does not by itself prove that a contract has been signed.