TenderlineUK
Procurement Intelligence
Official OCDSSearch
Find a TenderPlanned procurementPlanned procurement notice
Published 8 Oct 2026, 15:23 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Community Impact Fund – Programme Management Office

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: North East Combined Authority (Local council)

ServicesOpen procedureAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: IT Services & Software (72)Business Services & Consultancy (79)+2 more Delivery: North East (UKC14)
Planned pipeline value£680,000pipeline notice — not a live tender
Tender notice expected 17 Oct 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 31 Jan 2029 · up to 1 Jul 2029 with extensions · starts 18 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority is seeking to appoint a Programme Management Office (PMO) Partner to support the management and coordination of the £12 million North East Community Impact Fund (CIF), which links to anticipated future investment through the Government’s Better Futures Fund. CIF aims to improve outcomes for children and families experiencing poverty by strengthening the capacity, capability and sustainability of the VCSE sector and enabling more preventative and outcomes-based approaches to service delivery.

The PMO Partner will provide the central programme management and coordination function for CIF, supporting effective delivery across the programme. This will include supporting programme governance and reporting, financial and contract management, performance management of commissioned delivery partners against agreed outcomes and milestones, and management of programme-level risks and dependencies.

The PMO Partner will also support the development and management of Social Outcomes Partnerships, coordinating relationships between delivery partners, investors, commissioners and outcomes payers. This will include ensuring the Better Futures Fund element is leveraged effectively as part of the CIF programme.

CPV: Financial management consultancy services · General management consultancy services · Project management consultancy services · Project-management services other than for construction work

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£680,000
Contract period: 18 Jan 2027 — 31 Jan 2029 (up to 1 Jul 2029 with extensions) · up to 2 yrs 5 mo with extensionsEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligibleDelivery: North East
Value
£680,000 exc. VAT · £680,000 inc. VAT
Extensions
1 x 6 Month Option to Extend
72224000 Project management consultancy services79411000 General management consultancy services79412000 Financial management consultancy services79421000 Project-management services other than for construction work

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids were scored
Quality: 80%Price: 20%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Quality
  • Price
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 20 of 100 points — a 10% discount moves about 2 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring — the tender pack may use another formula.

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

How North East Combined Authority buys Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) — and who usually turns up

North East Combined Authority’s own published record, next to the North East England market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Business and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) →

1

How the contest usually goes

This buyer’s published record next to the market where the work is delivered — contested contracts only, counted per lot

Question for the bid
This buyerNorth East Combined Authority · all categories
The marketBusiness and management consultancy services (CPV 7941) · North East England
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 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 7941, n=49
60%53%

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 registered in North East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 7 of 11 known-location awards · market: CPV 7941, n=68
64%34%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North East England.

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: 3 decided notices · market: n=19
44 days52 days

Half of these awards were announced within 44 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 7 of 13 awarded contracts without a rival · market: n=52
54%27%

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 buyer4 lots with bid counts · all categories · too few to chart
—
The market36 lots with bid counts · CPV 7941
28% had one bid
Market · select a colour for counts
1 bid28%
Market: 10 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
2–319%
Market: 7 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
4–631%
Market: 11 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
7+22%
Market: 8 of 36 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 buyerNo matched awards
—
The market24 lots with estimate and award · CPV 7941
25% below estimate
Market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate25%
Market: 6 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%67%
Market: 16 of 24 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate8%
Market: 2 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 794128% single-bidPublished estimate£680,000
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 36 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—28% single-bid risk
Past bids on 36 similar lots
1 bid28%
10 of 36 similar past lots received 1 bid (28%).
2–319%
7 of 36 similar past lots received 2–3 (19%).
4–631%
11 of 36 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+22%
8 of 36 similar past lots received 7+ (22%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the winning 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 guide, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet — the published estimate is £680k, 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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueMatch
—

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.

SupplierWon in this categoryLive contractsAward vs estimate
—
Coverage and what to read with care
  • Each figure 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 sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
  • When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
  • Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
  • “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. 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
Open 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
8 Oct 2026, 15:23 BST
Last source update
8 Oct 2026, 15:23 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end — 22 Dec 2026
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-095321
Latest notice
Planned procurement notice (UK3)
Classification (CPV)
Financial management consultancy servicesGeneral management consultancy servicesProject management consultancy servicesProject-management services other than for construction work
Delivery area
North East (UKC14)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0783ff Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: OPEN-UK
Supplier login requiredElectronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free
Submission deadline
10 Nov 2026
Clarification deadline
5 Nov 2026
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
ender submissions must be submitted electronically via the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority's OPEN e-Procurement Portal. Suppliers wishing to participate in this opportunity must register (if not already registered) and submit their completed tender response through the portal by the stated deadline. Tender documents can be accessed and submitted via the following link: https://www.open-uk.org Submissions sent by email or any method other than the OPEN e-Procurement Portal will not be accepted. Suppliers are responsible for ensuring that their tender is successfully submitted before the deadline. No electronic auction will be used as part of this procurement process. Expressions of interest should also be submitted through the OPEN e-Procurement Portal.

Timeline

6 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Planning notice publishedearlier today
    8 Oct 2026, 15:23 BST
  2. Tender notice expectedin 8 days
    17 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST
  3. Clarification questions byin 27 days
    5 Nov 2026
  4. Submission deadlinein 32 days
    10 Nov 2026
  5. Award decision expected byin 75 days
    22 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
  6. Contract startsin 101 days
    18 Jan 2027

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Notice history

2 events · 1 release on Find a Tender · since 8 Oct 2026
  1. Planned procurement notice published
    8 Oct 2026, 15:23 BSTUK3
  2. First planning notice published
    8 Oct 2026, 15:23 BST

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

North East Combined Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PJMR-6594-BRGH The Lumen, St James' Boulevard, Newcastle Upon Tyne, North East, NE4 5BZ [email protected]

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure