Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 29 Jan 2026, 12:42 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

COV - market Engagement Event and Procurement of an Additional provider for Lot 1 of Children's Targeted Short Breaks

Authority: Coventry City Council (Local council)

ServicesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Business Services & Consultancy (79)Health & Social Care (85) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£685,000pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 2 Mar 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 31 Mar 2030 · starts 15 Apr 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Coventry City Council are looking to hold a market engagement event and carry out a procurement for one additional provider to join Lot 1 of the Children's Targeted Short Breaks bringing the number of providers under this Lot to three. The Market Engagement Event is scheduled to take place via Microsoft Teams and will be held at 11am on 25th February 2026.

CPV: Child daycare services · Customer-care services · Daycare services for disabled children and young people

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrsSMEVCSE

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

How Coventry City Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up

Coventry City 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: Social work services (CPV 8531) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerCoventry City Council · division 85
The marketSocial work services (CPV 8531) · West Midlands (authority’s region)
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: 34 of 41 known-size awards · market: CPV 8531 · West Midlands (authority’s region), n=110
83%56%

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 West Midlands (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 44 of 60 known-location awards · market: CPV 8531 · West Midlands (authority’s region), n=175
73%58%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in West Midlands.

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 8531 · West Midlands (authority’s region), n=37
36 days35 days

Half of these awards were announced within 36 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 24 of 42 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8531 · West Midlands (authority’s region), n=136
57%49%

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 buyer30 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
10% had one bid
The market64 lots with bid counts · CPV 8531 · West Midlands (authority’s region)
22% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid10% / 22%
Buyer: 3 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 64 lots with published bid counts.
2–337% / 25%
Buyer: 11 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 16 of 64 lots with published bid counts.
4–613% / 19%
Buyer: 4 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 64 lots with published bid counts.
7+40% / 34%
Buyer: 12 of 30 lots with published bid counts. Market: 22 of 64 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 buyer26 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
12% below estimate
The market36 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8531 · West Midlands (authority’s region)
33% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate12% / 33%
Buyer: 3 of 26 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 12 of 36 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%73% / 67%
Buyer: 19 of 26 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 24 of 36 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate15% / 0%
Buyer: 4 of 26 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 36 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 853148 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£685k
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 64 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet22% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 64 similar lots
1 bid22%
14 of 64 similar past lots received 1 bid (22%).
2–325%
16 of 64 similar past lots received 2–3 (25%).
4–619%
12 of 64 similar past lots received 4–6 (19%).
7+34%
22 of 64 similar past lots received 7+ (34%).
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 £685k, 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
Unspecified in notice
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
29 Jan 2026, 12:42 GMT
Last source update
30 Jan 2026, 10:02 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-008317
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Child daycare servicesCustomer-care servicesDaycare services for disabled children and young people
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0611f6 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

29 Jan 2026 → 15 Apr 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published266 days ago
    29 Jan 2026, 12:42 GMT
  2. Market engagement240 days ago
    23 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Market engagement event to be held via Microsoft Teams at 11am on 25th February 2026. To register for the event please complete the questionnaire on the Councils tendering portal.

  3. Tender notice expected233 days ago
    2 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts190 days ago
    15 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 29 Jan 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    29 Jan 2026, 12:42 GMT
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    30 Jan 2026, 10:02 GMT
    UK2
  3. Published value published: £685,000
    30 Jan 2026, 10:02 GMT

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

Coventry City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PMJC-6861-XJPP Council House, Earl Street, Coventry, West Midlands, CV1 5RRContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure