Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 30 Oct 2025, 10:00 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Better Care Fund 26/27 · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Department of Health & Social Care (Central government)

ServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£5,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 19 Jan 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 31 Mar 2027 · up to 31 Mar 2028 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Support to a comprehensive Better Care Fund programme of Health, Housing and Social Care integration support that provides support to social care local systems. To help systems deliver person centred integrated services.

CPV: Administrative healthcare services · Administrative social services · Health and social work services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 1 yrSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2027 (1 yr) · up to 31 Mar 2028 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Department of Health & Social Care buys Social services (CPV 8532), and who usually turns up

Department of Health & Social Care’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 services (CPV 8532) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerDepartment of Health & Social Care · division 85
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: 3 of 14 known-size awards · market: no supplier sizes published
21%—

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 10 of 15 known-location awards · market: no winner locations published
67%—

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in the delivery region.

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: 4 decided notices · market: no decision dates published
31 days—

Half of these awards were announced within 31 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 buyer’s 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: at least 13 of 26 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: no bid counts or routes published
50%—

Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.

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 buyer8 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
38% had one bid
The marketNo bid counts published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
1 bid38%
Buyer: 3 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
2–313%
Buyer: 1 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
4–638%
Buyer: 3 of 8 lots with published bid counts.
7+13%
Buyer: 1 of 8 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 buyer24 lots with estimate and award · all categories
50% below estimate
The marketNo estimate-and-award pairs published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
Below estimate50%
Buyer: 12 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%50%
Buyer: 12 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0%
Buyer: 0 of 24 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 853212 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£5.0m
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 43 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet33% single-bid risk
Past bids on 43 similar lots
1 bid33%
14 of 43 similar past lots received 1 bid (33%).
2–340%
17 of 43 similar past lots received 2–3 (40%).
4–619%
8 of 43 similar past lots received 4–6 (19%).
7+9%
4 of 43 similar past lots received 7+ (9%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 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 £5.0m, 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
Procedure method
Competitive flexible procedure
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
30 Oct 2025, 10:00 GMT
Last source update
30 Oct 2025, 13:35 GMT
Authority reference
W193968
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-069619
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Administrative healthcare servicesAdministrative social servicesHealth and social work services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d6d8 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

30 Oct 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published357 days ago
    30 Oct 2025, 10:00 GMT
  2. Market engagement342 days ago
    13 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    DHSC would like to invite organisations within the health and social care sector to be involved in a Request for Information exercise for the upcoming tender opportunity for the Better Care Fund 26/27.

    There are two accompanying documents with this published notice, the first will hold some background information to the Authority, requirement and in scope activity for the contract. The second an RFI form with some questions that organisations will have to complete and return back to the department via the contact information found within the document.

    This is a unique opportunity to help shape the tender and ensure the opportunity is attractive to the market.

    We look forward to your completed responses, Thank you.

  3. Tender notice expected275 days ago
    19 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts204 days ago
    1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 30 Oct 2025
  1. Pipeline notice published
    30 Oct 2025, 10:00 GMT
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Oct 2025, 13:35 GMT
    UK2

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 of Health & Social Care

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PMQG-9965-CHZR 39 Victoria Street, London, London, SW1H 0EUContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure