Official UK procurement notice
Floating Support - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Authority: Westminster City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionFloating Support Services
Westminster City Council intends to procure community-based floating support and associated housing-related support services for adults who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, experiencing housing instability or requiring support to sustain independent living. The services will provide person-centred, strengths-based and trauma-informed support to prevent homelessness, promote independence and help residents secure and maintain suitable accommodation.
The proposed procurement may be divided into four lots covering: prevention and tenancy sustainability; independent living and resettlement, including support for residents placed outside Westminster; multidisciplinary or specialist support for residents with multiple and overlapping needs; and temporary accommodation pathway support at Newman Street and Penn House. The latter would be limited to resident support and would not include housing management functions.
Services may include tenancy sustainment, budgeting and household financial support, support to engage with landlords and letting agents, practical independent-living and move-on assistance, and coordinated support with housing, health, adult social care, substance misuse and community services. The final service model, lot structure, volumes, payment arrangements and procurement approach will be informed by preliminary market engagement and remain subject to approval.
CPV: Other services · Social work services without accommodation
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Westminster City Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Westminster City 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 Greater London (authority’s region).
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 146 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.
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.
1 bid33% / 29%
2–337% / 39%
4–626% / 22%
7+4% / 10%
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 estimate26% / 21%
Within ±2%71% / 70%
Above estimate3% / 9%
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£5.3m
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 77 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid29%
2–339%
4–622%
7+10%
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
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 21 Oct 2026, 11:57 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Oct 2026, 11:57 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-099392- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078ca8Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
21 Oct 2026 → 1 Jul 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published3 days ago21 Oct 2026, 11:57 BST
- Today24 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 11 days4 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Westminster City Council (WCC) is undertaking a market engagement exercise to inform the recommissioning of its Floating Support Service. The future service will need to respond to Westminster’s changing housing context, including increasing use of temporary accommodation outside the borough, access to affordable private rented sector accommodation and increasing complexity of resident need.
A provider market engagement event will be held on:
Date: 02 November 2026
Time: 13:00 to 17:00
Location: Westminster City Hall, London
Format: Hybrid event, with providers able to attend either in person or remotely via Microsoft Teams.
Interested organisations are invited to:
Confirm attendance at the market engagement event by responding through this procurement portal and providing the names, job titles, email addresses and preferred attendance method (in person or virtual) for attendees.
Review and complete the accompanying market engagement survey.
Submit the completed market engagement survey through this procurement portal no later than close of business on 28 October 2026.
Providers may submit clarification questions relating to the market engagement exercise through the procurement portal. Responses to clarification questions may be shared with all participating organisations where considered relevant and appropriate to ensure transparency and equal access to information.
Participation in this engagement exercise is voluntary and is intended solely to assist the Council in refining its proposed service model and procurement strategy. Participation, non-participation, attendance at the event, or submission of feedback will not provide any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement process.
- Tender notice expectedin 72 days4 Jan 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 249 days1 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published21 Oct 2026, 11:57 BSTUK2
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