Official UK procurement notice
D159PA - AI Digital Guidance & Support Platform - Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
Essex County Council is procuring an AI-powered Recovery Support Assistant, delivered through WhatsApp and web, that supports people affected by drug and alcohol use, including people with complex needs, through their recovery. This is to sit alongside the Buyer's existing services and does not replace them.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEssex County Council is procuring an AI-powered Recovery Support Assistant, delivered through WhatsApp and web, that supports people affected by drug and alcohol use, including people with complex needs, through their recovery. This is to sit alongside the Buyer's existing services and does not replace them.
We are looking to understand the capability of the market to ensure our specification is achievable, as well as delivering the needs of our residents in need of help.
The service users will be residents of Essex affected by drug and/or alcohol use, including people with complex needs. This service will be for those 18 years and older initially. There is no limit on the number of service users.
CPV: Guidance and counselling services
More open work like this
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The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Essex County Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Essex County 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.
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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.
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Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in East of England.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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Half of these awards have an award date within 48 days of the bid deadline.
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Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
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?
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1 bid11% / 27%
2–331% / 18%
4–630% / 30%
7+28% / 25%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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Below estimate33% / 48%
Within ±2%59% / 43%
Above estimate8% / 10%
Assess each lot i
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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£84k
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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 56 past lots.
1 bid27%
2–318%
4–630%
7+25%
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No comparable awards for this lot yet.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
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No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
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Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see 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
- 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
- 13 Nov 2026, 09:19 GMT
- Last source update
- 13 Nov 2026, 09:19 GMT
- Authority reference
D159PA- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-107816- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07bb2eFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
13 Nov 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice publishedjust passed13 Nov 2026, 09:19 GMT
- Today13 Nov 2026
- Market engagementin 12 days25 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Please complete the following questionnaire forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗
If a round of meetings is deemed appropriate, this will take place week commencing 23rd November 2026.
- Tender notice expectedin 17 days30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 138 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published13 Nov 2026, 09:19 GMTUK2
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