Official UK procurement notice
Experts at Hand: Occupational Therapy Inclusion & Participation Service
Authority: Norfolk County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNorfolk County Council (NCC) proposes to procure an Occupational Therapy, Inclusion and Participation Service, which will form part of Norfolk's zone based, multidisciplinary Experts at Hand model.
'Experts at Hand' is designed to transform how support for children and young people with SEND is delivered, by bringing specialist expertise directly into mainstream early years, primary, secondary and post-16 settings. By embedding 'expert roles',
such as occupational therapists alongside setting staff, and wider professionals. The offer supports earlier identification of need, strengthens workforce confidence and capability, and provides timely, evidence-based support within everyday learning environments.
The Experts at Hand offer will support mainstream settings across early years, primary, secondary and post-16, to better identify and meet the needs of children and young people with emerging or identified SEND needs. It will provide dedicated professional expertise tailored to the needs of individual children and young people, through observation, assessment, and identifying appropriated targeted support to help more children and young people flourish within their settings.
The contract is anticipated to start 4th January 2027 up to 31st March 2029 with an anticipated contract value of £3,383,930 excluding VAT.
CPV: Community health services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 2 yrs 3 mo from 4 Jan 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
- “Experts at Hand: Occupational Therapy Inclusion & Participation Service” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Norfolk County Council buys Social services (CPV 8532), and who usually turns up
Norfolk County Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Social services (CPV 8532) →
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.
Here, local means registered in East of England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in East of England.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 81 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.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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 bid0% / 5%
2–30% / 21%
4–60% / 5%
7+100% / 68%
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.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.
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 8532Published estimate£3.4m
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 111 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–37%
4–617%
7+68%
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- 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
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 12 Aug 2026, 11:45 BST
- Last source update
- 12 Aug 2026, 11:56 BST
- Authority reference
NCCT43502- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-076678- Latest notice
- Pipeline notice (UK1)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e264Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
12 Aug 2026 → 4 Jan 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published71 days ago12 Aug 2026, 11:45 BST
- Market engagement52 days ago31 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
Norfolk County Council (NCC) is undertaking market engagement in relation to a proposed Occupational Therapy, Inclusion and Participation Service, which will form part of Norfolk's zone-based, multidisciplinary Experts at Hand model.
This engagement is being conducted through a soft market testing exercise designed to gather feedback on the proposed service model and to better understand current market capacity, capability and innovation.
The exercise will consist of:
- An online market engagement workshop to be held via Microsoft Teams on 20 August 2026, from 10:00am to 11:00am. The session will include an overview of the proposed service scope and provide an opportunity for providers to ask questions and engage in discussion.
- A market engagement questionnaire, which will be published following the workshop alongside a draft service specification on the Council's In-Tend portal. Interested providers are invited to review the draft specification and complete the questionnaire. Completed questionnaires must be returned via In-Tend by 12:00 noon on 31 August 2026.
The purpose of this market engagement is to obtain feedback on the proposed service and gather relevant market intelligence that may help inform the final service specification, workforce model, commissioning strategy and procurement approach.
This engagement is open to all interested providers. Participation is entirely voluntary and is for information-gathering purposes only. Information provided through this exercise will not form part of, nor influence, the evaluation of any future procurement process.
Participation, or non-participation, in this market engagement will not affect a provider's ability to participate in any future procurement opportunity. Equally, information submitted as part of this process will not place any provider at an advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement exercise.
Providers participate in this engagement at their own expense. NCC will not reimburse any costs incurred in attending the workshop, reviewing documentation, preparing responses or participating in any aspect of the market engagement process.
To ensure consistency and transparency, the Council has established designated points of contact for this exercise. Providers are requested not to contact other Council officers, teams or advisors regarding this engagement.
All enquiries and responses must be submitted through the messaging facility within In-Tend.
Providers wishing to participate should register on In-Tend at:
in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Home ↗
Registration is free of charge. Once registered, providers can express their interest in the market engagement.
Following the market engagement event on 20 August 2026, the questionnaire will be made available for download within the Clarifications section of the In-Tend portal. Completed questionnaires should be returned via the Correspondence section by 12:00 noon on 31 August 2026.
Providers interested in attending the online market engagement workshop should register on In-Tend and submit a message including their name and organisation details. The Council will respond with the Microsoft Teams meeting details.
- Tender notice expected22 days ago30 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 73 days4 Jan 2027
Notice history
4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 12 Aug 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published12 Aug 2026, 11:45 BSTUK2
- Pipeline notice published12 Aug 2026, 11:56 BSTUK1
- Status changed to planned12 Aug 2026, 11:56 BST
- Procurement method changed12 Aug 2026, 11:56 BST
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
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender