Your competitor just got notified of a tender six weeks before you’ll see it. They’re already preparing their bid. You don’t even know it exists yet.
This is the reality for most UK public sector procurement teams. You’re searching for formal tenders on Find a Tender Service (FTS) or Contracts Finder, reacting to opportunities as they appear. Meanwhile, better-informed suppliers are weeks ahead, having engaged with the buyer during the early stages of the procurement process. You’re bidding blind—responding to formal tenders without understanding buyer needs, competitive landscape, or market context.
Here’s what you’re missing: before a formal tender is published, public sector buyers release early-stage signals. Prior Information Notices (PINs), Requests for Information (RFIs), and soft market tests are the advance warning system that separates winning suppliers from those always playing catch-up. Teams that monitor these signals have 8–12 weeks to prepare. Teams that don’t have 4 weeks—and they’re already behind.
The good news? These signals are public, accessible, and free. You just need to know what they are, where to find them, and how to respond. This guide explains all three.
What Is a Prior Information Notice (PIN)?
A Prior Information Notice is a formal announcement from a public sector buyer signalling intent to tender for goods or services. Think of it as the buyer saying: “We’re planning to buy something. Here’s what we need. Here’s roughly when we’ll tender.”
Under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force in February 2025, public sector buyers must publish PINs at least 30 days before they launch a formal tender. This requirement is not optional. Before the Act, buyers could publish tenders with no advance warning. Now, they cannot. This legal requirement means the early-stage signals you’re looking for are guaranteed to exist—you just need to know where to find them.
What does a PIN contain?
A typical PIN includes:
- Basic information about the buyer and the planned procurement
- The buyer’s name and contact details
- A description of the goods or services needed
- The estimated contract value
- The planned timeline for the formal tender
- Any specific requirements or evaluation criteria
- Instructions for expressing interest
- Details about any preliminary market consultation activities that may be conducted
Why does this matter?
A PIN is your first signal that a tender is coming. It gives you 4–6 weeks to prepare before the formal tender is published. This is your advantage, if you use it. PINs enable suppliers to participate in early discussions, identify potential partners for collaboration or consortiums, and foster healthy competition by encouraging multiple suppliers to engage in the process. They also provide a vital head start to potential bidders to build teams and develop bid strategies before the formal tender process begins. Teams that monitor PINs can:
- Research the buyer and understand their priorities
- Assess whether they have the capability to win
- Plan their bid strategy
- Identify capability gaps and address them before the formal tender
- Build relationships with the buyer before the tender launches
Teams that ignore PINs don’t get this advantage. By the time they see the formal tender, they’re already behind.
The transparency mandate has already reshaped procurement. From December 2025 Tracker market data, local government alone—the UK’s largest procurement sector—has published 5,500+ transparency notices (PINs, RFIs, and market engagement notices) worth £2.2 billion in opportunity value. This wasn’t hypothetical before the Procurement Act 2023. It’s now measurable market intelligence. Since the Act came into force in February 2025, over 42,000 notices have been published across the UK public sector (as of November 2025), with Prior Information Notices representing nearly 6,000 of these. This is not theoretical advantage. It’s measurable market opportunity.
What Is a Request for Information (RFI)?
A Request for Information is a formal request from a buyer asking suppliers to provide information about their capability, experience, pricing, or approach. It’s the buyer’s way of gathering market intelligence before finalising the formal tender.
RFIs are published 2–4 weeks before the formal tender. This is after the PIN but before the formal tender. The buyer has signalled intent (via PIN); now they want to understand what’s available in the market.
What does an RFI contain?
A typical RFI includes:
- Specific questions about your capability (e.g., “Describe your experience delivering similar services to NHS trusts”)
- Questions about your approach (e.g., “How would you deliver this service?”)
- Questions about pricing (e.g., “What’s your estimated cost per user per month?”)
- Questions about compliance (e.g., “Are you GDPR compliant? ISO 27001 certified?”)
- Clear business requirements, such as integrations with other software or hardware, use cases, or management options
- A request for recipients to submit their responses in a standard format to make comparisons easier
- A deadline for response (firm; missing it disqualifies you)
Why does this matter? Here’s the critical insight:
Buyers use RFI responses to shape the formal tender. RFI responses help determine which vendors are suitable to move forward to the next stage of the procurement process. If you respond well to an RFI, the buyer may adjust the formal tender criteria to favour your strengths. If you don’t respond, you miss the opportunity to influence the tender in your favour. This is not a minor detail. A strong RFI response can be the difference between a tender designed to suit you and a tender designed to suit your competitor.
How do you respond?
- Read all questions carefully
- Research the buyer—understand their needs, priorities, budget
- Answer all questions thoroughly
- Provide evidence of capability
- Be specific about pricing
- Differentiate yourself—explain why you’re different from competitors
- Submit on time. RFI deadlines are firm; missing them disqualifies you
- Follow up if you don’t hear back
- Always follow any guidance provided by the buyer and seek clarification if instructions are unclear.
It is important for buyers to provide suppliers with clear guidelines and expectations during the EME process to facilitate effective and complete responses.
Under the Procurement Act 2023, buyers must publish RFIs transparently and give all suppliers equal opportunity to respond. This means you have a fair chance to influence the tender if you engage early.
What Is a Soft Market Test?
A soft market test is an informal market research activity where a buyer tests market appetite, pricing, and capability before publishing a formal tender. It’s the buyer’s way of understanding what’s available in the market before committing to a formal procurement process.
Soft market tests happen 1–2 weeks before the formal tender. They’re the final stage before the formal tender is published.
How do soft market tests work?
The buyer might:
- Contact suppliers directly (phone, email, or meeting)
- Run focus groups or workshops
- Publish informal surveys or questionnaires
- Attend industry events and talk to suppliers informally
- Ask for informal feedback on their draft requirements
Framework Intelligence—a critical opportunity:
If the buyer uses frameworks, use the soft market test to understand framework timelines, renewal schedules, and entry requirements. This is your opportunity to learn whether this tender is part of a larger framework cycle—and if so, when the next framework entry point is. From December 2025 Tracker market analysis, frameworks represent 17.95% of all tender notices but account for 74.3% of total contract value—making framework entry decisions disproportionately high-stakes. Yet only 31.7% of suppliers have access to that 74.3% of value, indicating significant framework lock-out risk for those outside the entry window. Mid-sized companies cite framework lock-in as their biggest strategic risk; soft market tests are your chance to gather this intelligence before the formal tender is published. Missing a framework entry point doesn’t just cost you one contract; it costs you years of revenue.
Why does this matter?
Soft market tests are relationship-building opportunities. If you engage openly and honestly, you build relationship with the buyer. This relationship carries forward into the formal tender. Buyers often remember suppliers who engaged openly during the soft market test and favour them in the formal tender.
Soft market tests also help buyers gauge supplier interest and market interest, providing valuable feedback on supplier capacity, technical expertise, and enthusiasm for the project. This information can inform the final procurement strategy and foster healthy competition.
How do you engage?
- Respond promptly (within 24 hours if possible)
- Be open and honest
- Share your capability and pricing
- Ask questions about the buyer’s needs
- Discuss requirements openly and demonstrate your expertise to show how you can meet technical or procurement needs
- Build relationship
- Be collaborative, not defensive
- Follow up after the soft market test to stay in touch with the buyer
The Tender Lifecycle—How PINs, RFIs, and Soft Market Tests Fit Together
Understanding the tender timeline is essential. Here’s how it works:
The tender process is a structured sequence of steps that follows early market engagement and leads to the bidding process.
Week 1: PIN published. Buyer signals intent to tender.
Weeks 2–4: You research the buyer, understand their requirements, assess your capability.
Weeks 5–6: RFI published. Buyer asks for information.
Weeks 7–8: You respond to RFI, engage with buyer, understand their priorities.
Weeks 9–10: Soft market test. Buyer tests market informally.
Week 11–12: Formal tender published.
The bidding process involves submitting proposals in response to formal tenders.
Weeks 12–16: You bid (with 4 weeks to prepare, but you’ve already had 12 weeks advance notice).
The competitive advantage is stark.
Proactive teams start preparing at Week 1. Reactive teams start at Week 11. Proactive teams have 12 weeks to prepare; reactive teams have 4 weeks. This is the difference between reactive procurement (waiting for formal tenders) and proactive procurement (engaging from the PIN stage).
Why proactive teams win more deals:
From December 2025 market analysis, the data supports this advantage clearly. Teams monitoring these early signals have access to a £2.2 billion pipeline of opportunities that reactive teams never see. Local government alone has published 5,500+ transparency notices (PINs, RFIs, market engagement notices) worth £2.2 billion. This is not theoretical advantage—it’s measurable market opportunity.
Early engagement also gives you insight into the buyer’s priorities and a better understanding of the buyer’s requirements. This enables suppliers to tailor their proposals more effectively, demonstrate value, and address specific needs. You understand their needs before the formal tender is published. You can shape the formal tender in your favour through your RFI response. You build relationship with the buyer. You have time to prepare a high-quality bid. You’re ahead of competitors who don’t engage early.
Reactive teams only see the formal tender. They have limited time to prepare. They don’t understand buyer needs. They don’t have relationship with the buyer. They lose to proactive teams.
Using Tracker Intelligence to Support Early Engagement
Tracker Intelligence enables early engagement by showing you who the buyer is, what they’ve bought before, when contracts are due to re-procure, and which projects are coming up. This allows you to engage buyers earlier, respond more effectively to RFIs, and align your solution to their priorities before the tender is published.
By using Tracker, proactive teams gain time, insight, and buyer alignment—giving them a clear advantage over reactive competitors. Speak to the team today to get started.
Where to Find PINs, RFIs, and Soft Market Tests
These early-stage signals—including planned procurement notices, early market engagement notices, and future opportunity notices—are published publicly across five main sources. These notices are important early-stage signals that alert suppliers to upcoming procurement activities, foster transparency, and encourage market engagement. Don’t rely on a single source; set up alerts across all five.
The scale of procurement activities can influence your alert strategies, as larger or more complex projects may require more proactive monitoring and engagement. Planned procurement notices act similarly to Prior Information Notices (PINs) by signaling future tender intentions and enabling shortened tendering timescales. To maximise your chances, adopt best practices for monitoring and responding to these early-stage notices, ensuring you stay ahead of opportunities.
Transparency adoption varies by region. From December 2025 Tracker market research, Northwest England leads with pipeline activities—344 UK1 (Prior Information) notices published, signalling strong early-stage visibility. Southwest England dominates contract detail notices (1,500+), indicating mature tender closure transparency. Understanding your regional landscape helps you prioritise alert strategies and focus on the most active procurement areas. If you’re pursuing contracts in Southwest England, contract visibility is strong. If you’re in Northwest, early-stage signal monitoring is your competitive advantage.
Common mistakes to avoid:
Mistake 1: Ignoring PINs. They’re your advance warning; use them. Research the buyer. Understand their requirements. Plan your bid strategy.
Mistake 2: Not responding to RFIs. RFI responses influence the formal tender; non-response is a missed opportunity. Respond thoroughly and tailor your response to the buyer.
Mistake 3: Generic RFI responses. Tailor your response to the buyer; generic responses are ignored. Answer all questions thoroughly. Provide evidence. Differentiate yourself.
Mistake 4: Not engaging in soft market tests. These are relationship-building opportunities; engage openly. Respond promptly. Be collaborative.
Mistake 5: Missing deadlines. RFI and soft market test deadlines are firm; missing them disqualifies you. Set calendar reminders. Respond early.
Turning Early Signals into Better Bid Outcomes with Tracker Intelligence
Success in public sector tendering is often driven by how early you can identify and act on opportunity signals. This article provides actionable insights for public procurement professionals, focusing on how to leverage prior information notices (PINs) and related early signals for better outcomes. Tracker Intelligence brings together PINs, RFIs, and soft market tests in one place, giving you visibility 4–6 weeks earlier than relying on published tenders alone. This additional time allows teams to better understand buyer priorities, define the scope and details of each project, shape requirements through RFI responses, and prepare higher-quality submissions—leading to measurable improvements in bid quality and win rates.
These early-stage signals are public, but they’re fragmented across multiple portals and easy to miss. Tracker Intelligence removes the manual searching by aggregating them into a single dashboard, with alerts that ensure nothing is overlooked. This enables consistent early engagement, faster response times, and more strategic bid planning.
If you’re currently only engaging once a formal tender is published, using Tracker Intelligence allows you to move upstream—turning early market insight into stronger bids and better outcomes. Speak to the team today to turn insights into actions.
