Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 15 Oct 2026, 20:13 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Children's Short Break Services

Authority: London Borough of Waltham Forest (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£5,095,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 23 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Mar 2030 · up to 31 Mar 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The London Borough of Waltham Forest is undertaking preliminary market engagement to inform the future commissioning of Children's Short Break Services for disabled children and young people. The Council is seeking to establish a sustainable, flexible and family-centred model that supports its statutory responsibilities whilst enabling the Short Breaks offer to evolve in response to the needs, aspirations and lived experience of children, young people and families. This engagement forms part of a wider co-production programme involving children, young people, parent carers, providers and partner organisations. We are keen to understand the market's views on how we can collectively develop a strong, diverse and innovative Short Breaks offer for Waltham Forest over the coming years.

The Council welcomes participation from:

  • Existing Short Break providers;
  • Specialist SEND providers;
  • Voluntary and community sector organisations;
  • Social enterprises;
  • Leisure and recreation providers;
  • Arts, culture and creative organisations;
  • Providers delivering sports, outdoor learning and adventure activities;
  • Local businesses and community organisations;
  • Potential new market entrants.

CPV: Health and social work services · Holiday centre and holiday home services · Other community, social and personal services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 31 Mar 2032 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 London Borough of Waltham Forest buys Holiday centre and holiday home services (CPV 5524), and who usually turns up

London Borough of Waltham Forest’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: Holiday centre and holiday home services (CPV 5524) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLondon Borough of Waltham Forest · 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: 14 of 23 known-size awards · market: CPV 5524 · UK-wide, n=29
61%62%

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.

Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 11 of 13 known-location awards · market: CPV 5524 · UK-wide, n=48
85%77%

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 5524 · UK-wide, n=9
77 days47 days

Half of these awards were announced within 77 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 14 of 44 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 5524 · UK-wide, n=14
32%57%

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 buyer11 lots with bid counts · all categories
9% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 5524 · Greater London (authority’s region)
20% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid9% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–345% / 0%
Buyer: 5 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–627% / 0%
Buyer: 3 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+18% / 80%
Buyer: 2 of 11 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 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 buyer10 lots with estimate and award · all categories
30% below estimate
The market5 lots with estimate and award · CPV 5524 · UK-wide
20% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate30% / 20%
Buyer: 3 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%60% / 60%
Buyer: 6 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 5 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate10% / 20%
Buyer: 1 of 10 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 5 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 552436 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£5.1m
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 117 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet9% single-bid risk
Past bids on 117 similar lots
1 bid9%
11 of 117 similar past lots received 1 bid (9%).
2–340%
47 of 117 similar past lots received 2–3 (40%).
4–642%
49 of 117 similar past lots received 4–6 (42%).
7+9%
10 of 117 similar past lots received 7+ (9%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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 £5.1m, 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
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
15 Oct 2026, 20:13 BST
Last source update
15 Oct 2026, 20:13 BST
Authority reference
DN833249
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097688
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health and social work servicesHoliday centre and holiday home servicesOther community, social and personal services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0788fc Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

15 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published5 days ago
    15 Oct 2026, 20:13 BST
  2. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 2 days
    22 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    Date: 22 October 2026

    Format; Online via Microsoft Teams

    Registration: Providers should indicate their interest through the London Tenders Portal - procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗

    Joining information: Teams joining instructions will be issued through the portal to registered providers.

  4. Tender notice expectedin 35 days
    23 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 162 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    15 Oct 2026, 20:13 BST
    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

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PPJN-6757-NZZZ Room 100, Waltham Forest Town Hall, Walthamstow, London, E17 4JFContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure