Official UK procurement notice
CN260642 Mental Health Assessment and Mental Capacity Assessment Service
Authority: Kent County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionKent County Council currently commissions a Mental Health Assessment Service, which supports the statutory requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) under the Mental Capacity Act.
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards provide additional protection for the most vulnerable people living in residential homes, nursing homes or placed in a hospital environment. There is a legal requirement that care will always be provided in a way that is consistent with the human rights of people lacking capacity, who are not otherwise protected or safeguarded through the use of the Mental Health Act or Court of Protection powers.
Kent County Council as the Supervisory Body has a statutory responsibility to arrange for a best interest assessor to complete relevant assessments including Doctors who undertake the mental capacity assessment and mental health assessment as part of the overarching assessment under DoLS.
Kent County Council requires a supplier, working in conjunction with Kent DoLS Service, to arrange and complete these assessments, through the delivery of a Mental Health Assessment and Mental Capacity Assessment Service. The assessments must be undertaken by Section 12 doctors, who are also full members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and/or on the GMC Specialist Register as a specialist in psychiatry; and, where appropriate, those assessors must complete recommendations under the Mental Capacity Act.
It is intended that the new Mental Health Assessment and Mental Capacity Assessment Service will ensure the Council has access to timely, high-quality Mental Health and Mental Capacity Assessments, in compliance with statutory requirements, including the Mental Capacity (Deprivation of Liberty: Standard Authorisations, Assessments and Ordinary Residence) Regulations 2008.
The chosen supplier will be responsible for the efficient management of referrals and assessment processes, and the provision of suitably qualified and experienced professionals to undertake the assessments,
supporting the Council in meeting its legal duties and maintaining high standards of care, transparency, and assurance for individuals and their families.
CPV: Health and social work services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Kent County Council buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), and who usually turns up
Kent County Council’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: Health and social work services (CPV 85) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 South East England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South East England. More of this buyer’s work stays local than in this market: 83% against 55%, n=42.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 90 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid21% / 18%
2–357% / 36%
4–67% / 27%
7+14% / 19%
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.
Below estimate57% / 33%
Within ±2%43% / 59%
Above estimate0% / 9%
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.
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 #1Published estimate£2.5m
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 360 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid18%
2–336%
4–627%
7+19%
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.
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.
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PorchlightEarlier contract | SC220098 Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Service (Live Well Kent and Medway)notice published Nov 2022 | — | £20m | Matched as the earlier contract |
| The Shaw Trust LimitedEarlier contract | SC220098 Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Service (Live Well Kent and Medway)notice published Nov 2022 | — | £14m | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
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
- 22 May 2026, 14:27 BST
- Last source update
- 22 May 2026, 14:27 BST
- Authority reference
CN260642- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-047981- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06a179Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
22 May 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published151 days ago22 May 2026, 14:27 BST
- Market engagement130 days ago12 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
Kent County Council will be delivering a virtual Market Engagement Event to support the recommissioning of the Mental Health Assessment and Mental Capacity Assessment Service.
The event will be held virtually on Wednesday 10 June 2026: 11:00 – 13:00 via Microsoft Teams and will cover the following topics:
•Service Overview and Legislation
•Specification key elements
•Procurement approach
•The proposed pricing approach
To register your attendance at this event, please complete the MS Form via the following URL:
forms.office.com/e/QhqX9mnvF6 ↗
Please copy and paste the full URL address above into your browser to access the Microsoft Form. Teams Meeting links will be sent to registered attendees prior to the event.
Please ensure your participants have access to Microsoft Teams to attend the session. A meeting recording and slide deck will be shared following the event.
If you have any questions regarding the Market Engagement Event, please send them using the Microsoft Form.
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 103 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 May 2026, 14:27 BSTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender