Official UK procurement notice
BLC0360 - Drug Test on Arrest (DToA) Referral and Intervention Service
Authority: Police And Crime Commissioner For Durham (Police & fire)·On behalf of: BlueLight Commercial Limited
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis Invitation to Tender (“ITT”) has been issued by BlueLight Commercial, acting on behalf of Durham Police and Crime Commissioner and Durham Constabulary, for the provision of a force area-wide, Drug Test on Arrest (DToA) Referral and Intervention Service
This opportunity replaces the previous tender exercise for the same requirement, which was discontinued following the identification of additional and amended requirements. The revised specification has been incorporated into this procurement to ensure it fully reflects the Authority's current operational needs.
CPV: Community health services · Health and social work services · Health services · Medical analysis services · Rehabilitation services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1RenewalPublished valueAED 220,000
- Value
- AED 220,000 exc. VAT · AED 264,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
- Subject to future funding, governance arrangements, and agreement by the relevant commissioning body at that time.
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).
Award criteria is 60% Quality, 10% Social Value and 30% Pricing. For further details, please see ITT Documentation.
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
Social work services (CPV 8531) in North East England — and who usually turns up
Police And Crime Commissioner For Durham has too little published record in this market to describe on its own; the North East England market stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Social work services (CPV 8531) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Police And Crime Commissioner For Durham
contract notices in 36 months: 3 in CPV 8531 (1 route not published) · 5 in division 85 (1 without competition · 1 route not published) · 53 in all categories (49 without competition · 1 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 85), last 36 months: 1 lots. All 1 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices, which count bids assessed. Small sample.
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 85), last 36 months: 1 lots. Small sample.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 85), last 36 months: 1 pairs. Small sample.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 1 notices. Small sample.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.
Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 111 notices.
i
How often this buyer awards without a competition.
Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 85), last 36 months: 4 notices.
North East England · Social work services (CPV 8531)
contract notices delivered in North East England in 36 months: 91 in CPV 8531 (46 competed, 17 route not published) · 1,934 in division 85 (379 competed, 212 route not published) · the notice publishes no delivery location, so the authority’s registered region is used
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 33 lots. 26 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 3) and 7 from older notices (bids received, middle 2).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 33 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 20 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 27 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 30 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8531), last 36 months: 52 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
Based on the North East England market’s usual movement over 20 lots (CPV 8531), applied to the £220,000 estimate on this notice. The range comes from the region’s middle half.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile 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 columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. 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- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 28 Sept 2026, 11:40 BST
- Last source update
- 28 Sept 2026, 11:40 BST
- Authority reference
BLC0360- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077b5cFind a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via In-tend- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 9 Oct 2026, 13:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 2 Oct 2026, 16:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Timeline
4 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedjust passed28 Sept 2026, 11:40 BST
- Clarification questions byin 4 days2 Oct 2026, 16:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 11 days9 Oct 2026, 13:00 BST
- Contract startsin 34 days1 Nov 2026, 00:00 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published28 Sept 2026, 11:40 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- BlueLight Commercial LimitedBeneficiary authority
- Blue Light CommercialProcess contact pointProcuring entityProcurement Officer
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender