Official UK procurement notice
Appropriate Adult Service for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight
Authority: Hampshire County Council (Local council)·Consortium: 5 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionHampshire County Council in collaboration with Southampton City Council, Portsmouth City Council, Isle of Wight Council, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and Isle of Wight are looking to establish contracts with a single provider to deliver an Appropriate Adult Service for children and vulnerable adults across Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth, and the Isle of Wight
The Service will provide persons acting as an Appropriate Adult (AA) for children and young people (in the absence of the parent, guardian or, if the child/young person is in the care of a local authority or voluntary organisation, a person representing that authority or organisation, or a Social Worker) and vulnerable adults (in the absence of a relative, guardian, other person responsible for their care or any appropriate friend or other suitable adult) in custody at a police station or other place.
The Service will be required in Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
The Service will also provide AA for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children who are requiring an age assessment to be undertaken by Children's Services in situations where the age is in dispute. Requirements for Age Assessments are only relevant for Hampshire County Council. In the last 12 months the Council has had 80 age assessments where an appropriate adult was required.
To support interested suppliers the Authorities are sharing the most recent annual volumes to act as a guide to the indicative levels of demand for this service. .This is an indicative figure and the Authorities offer no guarantee around any levels of work. The successful supplier will meet the demand inline with the requirements of the specification for the tendered price.
Total Usage 10,450 hours of which
Vulnerable Adults
Portsmouth City Council - 1,574 hours
Police and Crime Commissioner (covering Southampton, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) 6,636 hours (this has since increased by approximately 400 hours a year)
Children
Portsmouth City Council YJS - 529 hours
Southampton City Council YJS - 501 hours
Isle Of Wight Council YJS - 107 hours
Hampshire County Council YJS - 1,081 hours
Governance
The Service is commissioned in collaboration by Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council, Portsmouth City Council, Isle of Wight Council, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and Isle of Wight.
Hampshire County Council will tender the Service on behalf of the collaborating authorities. Contracts will be issued by each Local Authority and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, i.e. there will be five contracts. Each collaborating authority will use the Document 3 - terms and conditions as its template for terms and conditions.
The tender documents use the term contract or contracts meaning the resulting five separate contracts that the successful Tenderer will enter into with each contracting authority.
For the purposes of this award notice the number of legal entities submitting tenders was only three but these relate to 5 separate individual contracts, hence it displays as 15 tenders received.
- No preliminary market engagement: This is a reprocurement following an unsuccessful tender under CS27242 - Appropriate Adult Service. The Authorities ran a market engagement session prior to the original tender.
CPV: Guidance services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£2,353,333
- Technical & professional ability
The Supplier must have three years experience of delivering an Appropriate Adult service
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (7)
- Quality criterion 1 (Lot 0): 18%
- Quality criterion 2 (Lot 0): 8%
- Quality criterion 3 (Lot 0): 12%
- Quality criterion 4 (Lot 0): 16%
- Quality criterion 5 (Lot 0): 8%
- Quality criterion 6 (Lot 0): 8%
- Price criterion 1 (Lot 0): 30%
Published award criteria (7)
- Price criterion 1 (Lot 0): Price will be evaluated on a straight line between the parameters set in the pricing schedule. The Scores will auto populate so suppliers will know their score. Suppliers who exceed the cap will Fail and be excluded
- Quality criterion 1 (Lot 0): Service Delivery - How will you deliver the service ensuring it meets the outcomes and aims of the service as detailed in the Service Specification, National Appropriate Adult Network Standards and current legislation?
- Quality criterion 2 (Lot 0): Mobilisation Plan - Please provide a mobilisation plan covering from contract award to contract start date?
- Quality criterion 3 (Lot 0): Safeguarding - How will you manage safeguarding risks and handle any suspected safeguarding issues in relation to service users and staff?
- Quality criterion 4 (Lot 0): Service Model - Please describe the proposed model of service in relation to staffing of shifts, employment status of AA and the staffing structure.
- Quality criterion 5 (Lot 0): Recruitment and Retention - Recruitment, management and training of Appropriate Adults
- Quality criterion 6 (Lot 0): Trauma Informed Approach and ACE - How will you ensure your service will be delivered in a way which recognises Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and provides a Trauma Informed approach
- Technical & professional ability
The Supplier must have three years experience of delivering an Appropriate Adult service
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 24 Jun 2026, 11:55 BST
- Last source update
- 31 Jul 2026, 16:51 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 13 Aug 2026
- Authority reference
CS29570- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-059353- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06bc01Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Each Authority will be responsible for their own payments. The successful supplier will be required to invoice monthly and will be paid in arrears. Payments will be made within 30 days of a valid invoice sent in.
- Risks
Devolution/Local Government Reform
The government wants all remaining two-tier areas in England to be eventually restructured into single-tier unitary authorities and is termed Local Government Reform (LGR). This reorganisation is part of a broader devolution strategy to simplify local government structures, save public funds, and improve local accountability. It is anticipated, that during the life of this contract, the LGR process will progress potentially impacting this contract. Impacts most likely will include novations of the legal entities you may contract with. There are assignment clauses within the Contract Terms and Conditions that allow us to assign, novate etc. the agreements to another body.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 20 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 7 Jul 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
24 Jun 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 8 dates- Tender notice published118 days ago24 Jun 2026, 11:55 BST
- Clarification questions by105 days ago7 Jul 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline92 days ago20 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent82 days ago31 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published81 days ago31 Jul 2026, 16:51 BST
- Award decision expected by68 days ago13 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Standstill ends67 days ago14 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts20 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 24 Jun 2026- Tender notice published24 Jun 2026, 11:55 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published31 Jul 2026, 16:51 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete31 Jul 2026, 16:51 BST
- Contract signature expected1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Appropriate Adult Service LimitedSMEAppropriate Adult Service for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight - Contract with Hampshire County Council1 Oct 2026 – 30 Jun 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2031Extensions: one 2 year extension | £522,500 | 27 Jul 2026standstill to 14 Aug 2026 | Standstill |
| The Appropriate Adult Service LimitedSMEAppropriate Adult Service for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight - Contract with the Isle Of Wight Council1 Oct 2026 – 30 Jun 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2031Extensions: one two year extension | £19,841 | 27 Jul 2026standstill to 14 Aug 2026 | Standstill |
| The Appropriate Adult Service LimitedSMEAppropriate Adult Service for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight - Contract with Portsmouth City Council1 Oct 2026 – 30 Jun 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2031Extensions: one two year extension | £251,104 | 27 Jul 2026standstill to 14 Aug 2026 | Standstill |
| The Appropriate Adult Service LimitedSMEAppropriate Adult Service for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight - Contract with Southampton City Council1 Oct 2026 – 30 Jun 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2031Extensions: 1 x 2 year extension | £92,810 | 27 Jul 2026standstill to 14 Aug 2026 | Standstill |
| The Appropriate Adult Service LimitedSMEAppropriate Adult Service for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight - Contract with The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight1 Oct 2026 – 30 Jun 2029 · up to 30 Jun 2031Extensions: 1 two year extension | £1,369,953 | 27 Jul 2026standstill to 14 Aug 2026 | Standstill |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10final-stage tenders · 15 at stage one | 10 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
5 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Isle of Wight CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
- Portsmouth City CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
- Southampton City CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
- The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of WightContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- THE APPROPRIATE ADULT SERVICE LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (6)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender