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Published 14 Apr 2026, 14:47 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Appropriate Adult Services · Department for Work & Pensions (Apr 2026)

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: Department for Work & Pensions (Central government)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Health & Social Care (85) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£250,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 28 Apr 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 1 Sept 2031 · up to 1 Sept 2033 with extensions · starts 1 Sept 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

DWP are looking to conduct some market engagement sessions with suppliers that are able to provide Appropriate Adult Services. DWP will require the service to be across England and Wales, provided by one supplier.

An Appropriate Adult is an individual that provides support for suspects in Interviews Under Caution where there is vulnerability or complex needs.

CPV: Social work and related services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 5 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Sept 2026 – 1 Sept 2031 (5 yrs) · up to 1 Sept 2033 with extensions
Eligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
85300000 Social work and related services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Department for Work & Pensions buys Social work and related services (CPV 8530), and who usually turns up

Department for Work & Pensions’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Social work and related services (CPV 8530) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerDepartment for Work & Pensions · division 85
The marketSocial work and related services (CPV 8530) · Greater London (authority’s region)
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 0 of 11 known-size awards · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=50
0%48%

No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Greater London (authority’s region).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 1 known-location awards · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=86
1 of 164%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 decided notices · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=18
94 days65 days

Half of these awards were announced within 94 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 12 procurements with awards; rival share unknown · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London (authority’s region), n=70
—57%

Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer14 lots with bid counts · all categories
14% had one bid
The market37 lots with bid counts · CPV 8530 · Greater London (authority’s region)
22% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid14% / 22%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
2–343% / 30%
Buyer: 6 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 11 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
4–621% / 32%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 37 lots with published bid counts.
7+21% / 16%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 37 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer8 lots with estimate and award · all categories
63% below estimate
The market19 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8530 · Greater London (authority’s region)
42% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate63% / 42%
Buyer: 5 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%38% / 53%
Buyer: 3 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 5%
Buyer: 0 of 8 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 19 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 853060 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£250k
Expected competition
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 37 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet22% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 37 similar lots
1 bid22%
8 of 37 similar past lots received 1 bid (22%).
2–330%
11 of 37 similar past lots received 2–3 (30%).
4–632%
12 of 37 similar past lots received 4–6 (32%).
7+16%
6 of 37 similar past lots received 7+ (16%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the award 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 statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £250k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

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.

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
  • Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
  • Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
  • Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

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
14 Apr 2026, 14:47 BST
Last source update
20 Apr 2026, 14:56 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-035712
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Social work and related services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06821b Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

14 Apr 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published191 days ago
    14 Apr 2026, 14:47 BST
  2. Latest notice published185 days ago
    20 Apr 2026, 14:56 BST
  3. Tender notice expected177 days ago
    28 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Market engagement177 days ago
    28 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST

    DWP are looking to conduct one to one sessions with interested suppliers who can provide Appropriate Adult Services across England and Wales.

    If you are interested, please can you email [email protected], confirming your interest. Please could you also Register on DWP's procurement system. Here is the link to register.

    dwp2.my.site.com/s/Welcome ↗

    For Further information about DWP procurement, please find below the link to the guidance.

    www.gov.uk/government/organisat… ↗

    Please can you respond by 28th April 2026.

  5. Contract starts52 days ago
    1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 Apr 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    14 Apr 2026, 14:47 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Apr 2026, 14:56 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Change to the requirement: A Nationwide Service can include sub-contracting in Regions, such as Northern Ireland and Wales.

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Department for Work & Pensions

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PJCP-7274-TLRQ Caxton House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA, London, London, SW1H 9NAContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure