Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 23 May 2025, 11:02 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Care Technology and Associated Support

Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)

ServicesCompetitive flexible procedureAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£70,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Sept 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 14 Mar 2031 · up to 14 Mar 2035 with extensions · starts 15 Mar 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Procurement of the Care Technology contract to improve social care outcomes and support people to maintain their independence, promoting health and wellbeing. This includes a monitoring and non-injurious falls pick up service.

CPV: Health and social work services · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Installation services of communications equipment · Telecommunications equipment and supplies

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSME

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

How Essex County Council buys Telecommunications equipment and supplies (CPV 3250), and who usually turns up

Essex County Council’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Telecommunications equipment and supplies (CPV 3250) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerEssex County Council · all categories
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: 79 of 131 known-size awards · market: CPV 3250 · UK-wide, n=9
60%22%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 99 of 185 known-location awards · market: CPV 3250 · UK-wide, n=11
54%27%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 35 decided notices · market: division 32 · East of England, n=13
46 days61 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 46 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.

Both shares are minimums: 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 37 of 151 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3250 · UK-wide, n=20
25%45%

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 buyer104 lots with bid counts · all categories
10% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 3250 · UK-wide
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid10% / 0%
Buyer: 10 of 104 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–333% / 60%
Buyer: 34 of 104 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–630% / 40%
Buyer: 31 of 104 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+28% / 0%
Buyer: 29 of 104 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 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 buyer58 lots with estimate and award · all categories
38% below estimate
The market16 lots with estimate and award · division 32 · East of England
50% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate38% / 50%
Buyer: 22 of 58 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%55% / 44%
Buyer: 32 of 58 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate7% / 6%
Buyer: 4 of 58 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 16 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 325036 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£70m
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 18 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet0% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 18 similar lots
1 bid0%
0 of 18 similar past lots received 1 bid (0%).
2–356%
10 of 18 similar past lots received 2–3 (56%).
4–628%
5 of 18 similar past lots received 4–6 (28%).
7+17%
3 of 18 similar past lots received 7+ (17%).
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 £70m, 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
23 May 2025, 11:02 BST
Last source update
29 Jul 2025, 14:46 BST
Authority reference
A005PA
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-043921
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health and social work servicesIT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportInstallation services of communications equipmentTelecommunications equipment and supplies
Delivery area
East of England (UKH3)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-052153 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

23 May 2025 → 15 Mar 2028 · 5 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    23 May 2025, 11:02 BST
  2. Latest notice published
    29 Jul 2025, 14:46 BST
  3. Market engagement
    27 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST

    The Council are exploring future models for care technology contract with a monitoring and non-injurious falls pick up service, we are requesting more information to assist the development of this model and to gather more information on the position of the market and innovation.

    The market engagement consists of a series of questions to understand the market capabilities, visions and assessing different contracting models.

    This Preliminary Market Engagement associated with this tender process will involve the issue of a Market Engagement briefing, addressing the scope of the requirement and explaining next steps.

    Please note the contracting authority is Essex County Council and any Successor Body meaning one or more entities which assumes any of the Council's functions (as applicable) as a result of Local Government Reform (LGR). Such successor body or bodies may be, without limitation, a local authority, a combined authority, a combined county authority, a strategic authority or any other status determined pursuant to the Devolution and LGR Legislation

  4. Tender notice expected52 days ago
    1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
  5. Today
    24 Oct 2026
  6. Contract starts
    15 Mar 2028

Notice history

3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 23 May 2025
  1. Pipeline notice published
    23 May 2025, 11:02 BST
    UK1
  2. Pipeline notice published
    23 May 2025, 11:05 BST
    UK1
  3. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    29 Jul 2025, 14:46 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

Change of primary contact

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

Essex County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PWVM-4844-NRQH County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, East of England, CM1 1QHContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Preliminary market engagement notice planningPreliminary market engagement noticeUK2Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender