Official UK procurement notice
Alternative Provision (AP) services for children and young people with SEND
Authority: Metropolitan borough of Bury (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBury Metropolitan Borough Council ("the Council") intends to establish a new commissioning arrangement for the delivery of Alternative Provision (AP) to children and young people, with a particular focus on those with SEND, those at risk of exclusion, and those unable to access mainstream or specialist education.
The service will deliver a graduated continuum of support from mainstream in-reach and early intervention through to full-time AP, specialist bespoke provision, vocational and employability pathways, Post-16 preparation for adulthood, and tutoring with the primary aim of supporting reintegration into mainstream education or transition to the most appropriate longer-term provision.
The arrangement is proposed to operate a two-tier directory (Core Providers and Approved Providers).
This Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is published to inform the market of the Council's intentions and to invite providers, partners and stakeholders to participate in a live PME event and post-event questionnaire. The outputs of PME will inform the final service specification and procurement strategy.
CPV: Education and training services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
- Extensions
- Extension options published
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage — how this market runs before the tender is published
How Metropolitan borough of Bury buys Education and training services (CPV 80) — and who usually turns up
Metropolitan borough of Bury’s own published record, next to the North West England market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Education and training services (CPV 80) →
How the contest usually goes
This buyer’s published record next to the market where the work is delivered — contested contracts only, counted per lot
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in North West England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West England.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 40 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid11% / 13%
2–322% / 27%
4–633% / 31%
7+33% / 29%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate50% / 36%
Within ±2%33% / 48%
Above estimate17% / 15%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors — from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1Estimate not published
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 157 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–327%
4–631%
7+29%
i
Where the winning price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A guide, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ||||
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | ||||
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each figure explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
- Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
- “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 8 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST
- Last source update
- 8 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-095177- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0783b0Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 published dates · Europe/London- Planning notice published1 day ago8 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST
- Market engagementin 25 days2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMTThe Council is undertaking PME to: test the proposed service model, lotting structure and market management approach; assess market capacity, appetite and capability (including SMEs and VCSE organisations); identify gaps in specialist and therapeutic provision; and inform the final service specification, pricing mechanism and procurement route. • Live PME event on 19 October 2026 at 16:30 (UK time). • Post-event feedback questionnaire hosted on Microsoft Forms, circulated to all registered attendees and interested parties. • Bilateral follow-up meetings may be arranged with individual providers on request, subject to equal-treatment safeguards. Please use register for the live event using the following link: Link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/f644851a-ebb1-4cbf-a370-b79a0d479943@b3b731d0-98c0-440b-8765-8d6464a8ed82?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog
- Contract startsin 265 days1 Jul 2027
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 8 Oct 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Oct 2026, 12:48 BSTUK2
- First planning notice published8 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender