Official UK procurement notice
Connect to Work · Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (May 2026)
Authority: Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBlaenau Gwent County Borough Council and Torfaen Council (BGCBC and TC) are seeking to engage with the market ahead of a planned commissioning exercise to deliver the Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF) model as part of the UK Government’s DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) Connect to Work programme.
Connect to Work is a voluntary supported employment programme delivered across England and Wales, designed to support disabled people, individuals with health conditions, and people facing complex barriers who are currently outside the labour market and experiencing ‘Hidden Unemployment’, to find and sustain meaningful employment. [gov.uk]
The programme forms a key component of the Government’s Get Britain Working Strategy, targeting economic inactivity by offering tailored, intensive, and high-quality employment support at the right time for the right participants. [gov.uk]
Participants of the programme must be working-age, eligible, and suitable for the provision. Connect to Work delivers the evidence-based “place, train, and maintain” Supported Employment model.
The Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF) is designed to support individuals facing complex barriers, disabilities, long-term health conditions, social, emotional, or environmental barriers.
Providers must deliver:
- High-fidelity Supported Employment aligned with SEQF standards
- A “place, train, and maintain” model of support
- Intensive one-to-one employment guidance
- Vocational profiling and personalised employment planning
- Job matching and targeted employer engagement
- On- and off-the-job support, including in-work progression coaching
- A personalised, strengths-based participant journey
- Close integration with community support services to sustain outcomes
All Connect to Work delivery partners must adhere to SEQF fidelity scales and participate fully in the DWP-led Fidelity Assurance System.
Delivery Partners will be required to undertake fidelity audits, quality checks, and performance reviews, ensuring consistent and evidence-based practice.
The value of this tender will be approximate £1,600,000 over the course of the contract; Please note that, due to the required timescales for the successful provider to mobilise and begin delivery, the Year 1 allocation of funds is expected to be slightly lower. Funding will be issued on a yearly basis, with annual allocations confirmed in line with programme requirements, performance, and governance arrangements.
It is anticipated that the contract commencement date is 01 September 2026 for a period of three (3) years and six (6) months – contract period will be confirmed in the tender documents.
Please note - this is an indicative specification and could change when the tender is released
CPV: Counselling services · Guidance and counselling services · Guidance services · Rehabilitation services · Training programme services · Vocational rehabilitation services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Blaenau Gwent County Borough 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: Social work services (CPV 8531) →
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Wales (Cymru).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 28 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.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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 bid27% / 26%
2–355% / 50%
4–618% / 16%
7+0% / 8%
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 estimate56% / 23%
Within ±2%13% / 77%
Above estimate31% / 0%
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 #1CPV 8531Published estimate£1.6m
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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 38 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid26%
2–350%
4–616%
7+8%
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.
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.
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
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Concession
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 12 May 2026, 14:59 BST
- Last source update
- 13 May 2026, 13:43 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-043914- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0696d2Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
12 May 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published165 days ago12 May 2026, 14:59 BST
- Market engagement154 days ago22 May 2026, 23:59 BST
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and Torfaen Council (BGCBC and TC) are undertaking preliminary market engagement with suitable providers who are passionate about supporting disabled people, individuals with health conditions, and people facing complex barriers. The Council is looking to commission services that offer Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF) delivery, designed to support individuals facing complex disabilities, long-term health conditions, social, emotional, or environmental barriers. Participants of the programme must be working age, eligible, and suitable for the provision. Connect to Work delivers the evidence-based “place, train, and maintain” Supported Employment model.
BGCBC and TC are interested in providers that can demonstrate:
- Proven expertise and experience delivering SEQF or similar Supported Employment models and related fidelity assurance
- Capacity to deliver intensive, high-fidelity support
- Strong understanding of participant needs, including those with complex barriers
- Established employer links and knowledge of local labour market conditions
- Skilled Employment Specialists experienced in SEQF delivery
- Ability to meet fidelity and performance requirements with robust governance
- Commitment to person-centred, strengths-based approaches
This is an opportunity to work in close partnership with the Council to co-design and deliver services that make a real difference. The Council wants to collaborate with service providers who share our commitment to inclusive, responsive, and empowering support for disabled people, individuals with health conditions, and people facing complex barriers who are currently outside the labour market.
This Supplier Engagement aims to:
- Assess the capacity, expertise, and readiness of potential programme providers.
- Shape future commissioning and procurement activity.
- Support the design of a high-fidelity, high-quality local delivery model.
- Engage with potential programme providers early to ensure clarity of expectations and standards.
If your organisation is interested, please can you express an interest for the preliminary supplier engagement as per the guidance set out below;
The Council is holding a preliminary supplier engagement event on Tuesday 2nd June 2026 at 10:00 Hours on Microsoft Teams.
To register an interest Service Providers must send their request via email to [email protected] - Please use reference Connect To Work in subject of email
All requests to attend must be received by 17:00 hours Friday 22nd May 2026.
Please note that this notice is not a contract notice for a call for competition, it is to advise the market of the Council’s intention to visit the market for such services and to commence preliminary market engagement. Full details of the service specification shall be issued with the call for competition and fully detailed in the tender documents.
- Tender notice expected123 days ago22 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts53 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 12 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published12 May 2026, 14:59 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published13 May 2026, 13:43 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
The email address to express an interest is [email protected]
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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender