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Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 21 Sept 2026, 13:56 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Expression of Interest (EOI): Soft Block Contract for Independent Fostering

Authority: Bristol City Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdLight touch regime
Sectors: Health & Social Care (85) Delivery: South West (UKK1)
Published estimate £3,000,000≈ £1.5m / year · £3,600,000 inc. VAT
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrsup to 3 yrs with extensions · starts 1 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Expression of Interest (EOI)

Bristol City Council wishes to test the level of market interest in providing a service o increase the sufficiency of foster carers for our children in care in Bristol and the surrounding areas (BANES / Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire and North Somerset). Simultaneously this will create an innovative partnership with an independent fostering agency (IFA) offering priority utilisation in regard to foster carers managed by the same IFA that reside outside of Bristol. Our overall aim of this soft block contract is to prevent children moving into residential care, where not appropriate.

Once carers have been identified by our Home Finding Team (HFT) in partnership with the IFA, BCC children’s commissioning can utilise the agreed and current financial scheme of delegation to put funding for foster placements into place.

CPV: Health and social work services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Lot 1PlannedRenewal 2 yrs
Contract period: 1 Jan 2027 — 31 Dec 2028 (2 yrs) · up to 3 yrs with extensionsDelivery: South West
Extensions
Extension options published
85000000 Health and social work services

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
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Light touch regime
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
21 Sept 2026, 13:56 BST
Last source update
21 Sept 2026, 13:56 BST
Authority reference
DN829993
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health and social work services
Delivery area
South West (UKK1)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077681

How it was run

Submission deadline
—

Timeline

3 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Planning notice publishedearlier today
    21 Sept 2026, 13:56 BST
  2. Market engagementin 18 days
    10 Oct 2026, 00:59 BSTExpressions of interest via an Expression Of Interest (EOI) form to be uploaded via ProContract portal. Specification can be found on the EOI form. Clarification questions can be asked via the messages tab.
  3. Contract startsin 101 days
    1 Jan 2027, 00:00 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    21 Sept 2026, 13:56 BSTUK2

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Bristol City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PWXH-3837-PDTD City Hall, College Green, Bristol, South West, BS1 5TR

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure