Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Feb 2026, 17:23 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Community Sensory Service · UK public procurement notice

Authority: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (Local council)

ServicesBelow thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£10pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 30 Mar 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsends 3 May 2028 · starts 4 May 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Council (BCP Council) is seeking market feedback to help inform and shape a possible upcoming procurement to establish a new Community Sensory Service for the BCP Council area via a preliminary market engagement exercise. The Community Sensory Support Service will provide practical, emotional, and informational support to adults (aged 18 and over) in Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole who have significant sight and/or hearing impairments, including those with dual sensory loss (deaf blindness). The aim of the Community Sensory Support Service is to promote and sustain the independence and inclusion of people using the service by being part of a co-ordinated approach which reduces individuals’ dependency on statutory services and exclusion from mainstream community life. Interested organisations are invited to complete the attached questionnaire. Completed questionnaires should be submitted via the messaging facility on this activity by midday Friday 27 February 2026. This market engagement questionnaire is open to all providers who have an interest in the delivery of a Community Sensory Service. Participation or non-participation in this market engagement event shall not prejudice organisations participating in any future procurement process nor is it intended that any information supplied shall place any organisation at an advantage in any forthcoming procurement process. Please ignore value in this notice, funding is not yet finalised

CPV: Health and social work services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 2 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 4 May 2026 – 3 May 2028 (2 yrs)
Delivery: South WestEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), and who usually turns up

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 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) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
The marketHealth and social work services (CPV 85) · South West 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: 10 of 78 known-size awards · market: division 85 · South West England, n=890
13%45%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning. Small firms win less of this buyer’s work than the market’s: 13% against 45%, n=78.

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 South West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 89 of 120 known-location awards · market: division 85 · South West England, n=1,359
74%50%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South West England. More of this buyer’s work stays local than in this market: 74% against 50%, n=120.

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: 32 decided notices · market: division 85 · South West England, n=121
59 days49 days

Half of these awards were announced within 59 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 51 of 68 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 85 · South West England, n=1,040
75%74%

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 buyer5 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
20% had one bid
The market239 lots with bid counts · division 85 · South West England
22% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid20% / 22%
Buyer: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 52 of 239 lots with published bid counts.
2–340% / 37%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 89 of 239 lots with published bid counts.
4–60% / 23%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 54 of 239 lots with published bid counts.
7+40% / 18%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 44 of 239 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 buyer11 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
0% below estimate
The market172 lots with estimate and award · division 85 · South West England
33% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate0% / 33%
Buyer: 0 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 56 of 172 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%100% / 66%
Buyer: 11 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 113 of 172 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 2%
Buyer: 0 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 172 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 #124 monthsSME suitableNo real estimate
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 239 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet22% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 239 similar lots
1 bid22%
52 of 239 similar past lots received 1 bid (22%).
2–337%
89 of 239 similar past lots received 2–3 (37%).
4–623%
54 of 239 similar past lots received 4–6 (23%).
7+18%
44 of 239 similar past lots received 7+ (18%).
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 real estimate
The buyer published £10 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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 valueWhy listed
South East Dorset Community Accessible TransportEarlier contractCommunity Transport Servicesnotice published Apr 2025—£450kMatched 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.

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.

What this replaces
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

47% title match.

A past supplier may not bid again.

The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (47% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid

Community Transport Services — held by South East Dorset Community Accessible Transport; no contract end date published.

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
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
Unspecified in notice
First published
9 Feb 2026, 17:23 GMT
Last source update
9 Feb 2026, 17:23 GMT
Authority reference
DN806134
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-011576
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health and social work services
Delivery area
South West (UKK24)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-064bb2 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Feb 2026 → 4 May 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published255 days ago
    9 Feb 2026, 17:23 GMT
  2. Market engagement236 days ago
    27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Interested organisations are invited to complete the questionnaire on www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk ↗. Completed questionnaires should be submitted via the messaging facility on this activity by midday Friday 27 February 2026. This market engagement questionnaire is open to all providers who have an interest in the delivery of a Community Sensory Service.

  3. Tender notice expected205 days ago
    30 Mar 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts171 days ago
    4 May 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Feb 2026, 17:23 GMT
    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

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PHYY-7342-PRHH Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council, Bournemouth, South West, BH2 6DYContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure