Official UK procurement notice
Appropriate Adult Service · Hampshire County Council (Mar 2026)
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 volumes from 2023/2024 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
2023/2024
- Total Usage 10,350 hours of which
- Vulnerable Adults
- Portsmouth City Council - 1,616 hours
- Police and Crime Commissioner (covering Southampton, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) 6,268 hours (this has since increased by approximately 400 hours a year)
- Children
- Portsmouth City Council YJS - 573 hours
- Southampton City Council YJS - 550 hours
- Isle Of Wight Council YJS - 69 hours
- Hampshire County Council YJS - 1,278 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 contracts that the successful Tenderer will enter into with each collaborating authority.
CPV: Guidance services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£2,477,192
- 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
- Cancelled
- 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
- 25 Mar 2026, 09:57 GMT
- Last source update
- 1 Jun 2026, 10:19 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 27 May 2026
- Authority reference
CS27242- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-031590- Latest notice
- Procurement termination notice (UK12)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067388Find 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
- 5 May 2026, 14:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 22 Apr 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
25 Mar 2026 → 1 Jul 2026 · 9 dates- Planning notice published217 days ago25 Mar 2026, 09:57 GMT
- Market engagement208 days ago2 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
In order to inform interest suppliers of their requirements prior to publishing the Authorities are running a market briefing session via MS Teams at 2pm on Thursday 2nd April. As the event will take place on MS Teams suppliers are not limited on the number of attendees.
The event will cover the following areas;
- Brief Introduction and Overview
- The Appropriate Adults requirements for Age Assessments
- The Procurement Process
The event will last for up to an hour. Questions are welcomed but will be recorded rather than answered during the meeting. Questions and answers (along with slides) will be distributed with the tender pack when the tender is published.
Interested Suppliers wishing to attend should register (if not already registered) on the Council's e-tendering platform, In-tend (in-tendhost.co.uk/hampshire/aspx/Home ↗) and 'Express Interest' against the project 'CS27242 Appropriate Adult Service'. Suppliers will then need to complete a form to confirm name of attendees and provide an email address so a MS Teams invitation can be set up.
Suppliers wishing to attend need to confirm with the Council, by 2pm on Wednesday 1st April.
- Tender notice published203 days ago7 Apr 2026, 15:57 BST
- Next notice expected203 days ago7 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by188 days ago22 Apr 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline176 days ago5 May 2026, 14:00 BST
- Award decision expected by153 days ago27 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published149 days ago1 Jun 2026, 10:19 BST
- Contract starts119 days ago1 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
7 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 25 Mar 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published25 Mar 2026, 09:57 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published7 Apr 2026, 15:57 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active7 Apr 2026, 15:57 BST
- Procurement method changed7 Apr 2026, 15:57 BST
- Deadline published: 5 May 2026, 14:00 BST7 Apr 2026, 15:57 BST
- Procurement termination notice published1 Jun 2026, 10:19 BSTUK12
- Status changed to complete1 Jun 2026, 10:19 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| supplier not published | — | 11 May 2026 | CancelledNo compliant bids were received for the opportunity |
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
- Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and Isle of WightContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
- Portsmouth City CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
- Southampton City CouncilContracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Procurement termination notice Procurement termination notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender