The Bank of England is reviewing its future requirements for Microsoft support services and is seeking market insight into the support models, service capabilities and commercial approaches available to support its Microsoft estate. At this stage, the Bank has not made any decisions regarding a future procurement. This preliminary market engagement is intended to inform the Bank's understanding of the market, potential service offerings, and future sourcing strategy. The purpose of this engagement is to obtain market feedback on areas including: • Support service models and delivery approaches. • Service capabilities, including proactive, reactive and advisory support services. • Commercial and pricing models. • Service levels, escalation processes and governance arrangements. • Access to specialist technical expertise and engineering resources. • Innovation, automation and emerging support capabilities. • Market trends and developments relevant to Microsoft support services. The Bank welcomes responses from suppliers with relevant Microsoft support services expertise. Feedback received will help inform the Bank's future requirements, sourcing strategy and any subsequent procurement decisions. This Preliminary Market Engagement exercise does not constitute a call for competition and will not result in the award of any contract. The Bank reserves the right to amend the scope, requirements and procurement approach of any future procurement following completion of the engagement process.

Procurement Act 2023

The Bank of England is undertaking Preliminary Market Engagement to help shape its future approach to Microsoft support services. Through this engagement, the Bank is seeking supplier feedback on support delivery models, service capabilities, commercial and pricing approaches, governance arrangements, access to specialist technical expertise, innovation, automation, and emerging support capabilities. The feedback received will be used to inform the Bank's future sourcing strategy, service requirements, and procurement approach. Suppliers wishing to participate should register their interest and complete the Preliminary Market Engagement questionnaire through the Bank's e tendering portal under project reference TEN1000021. Clarification questions must be submitted through the portal by 23 October 2026, and completed responses must be submitted by 12:00 on 5 November 2026. The Bank intends to hold an online supplier engagement webinar on 6th October 2026. Registration details will be provided through the e-tendering portal. This engagement does not constitute a call for competition or form part of a formal procurement process. It will not result in the award of a contract. Participation or non-participation will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement process. Participation in this Preliminary Market Engagement is limited to organisations that are active in the relevant market. The Bank reserves the right to determine eligibility for participation and to refuse or withdraw participation at its discretion where it considers this necessary to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the engagement.