Official UK procurement notice
Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Pre Market Engagement
Authority: West Northamptonshire Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionWest Northamptonshire Council (WNC) is hosting an online Market Engagement Information Session for organisations interested in the forthcoming recommissioning of
the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme.
Following our initial Market Engagement Event held in June 2026, we are aware that further interest has been generated from organisations wishing to understand the upcoming commissioning opportunity. As a result, WNC is offering an additional information session to provide prospective providers with further details ahead of the
formal procurement process.
The Council intends to commission the HAF Programme for an initial two-year period, continuing our commitment to delivering high-quality holiday provision for eligible children and young people across West Northamptonshire.
About the HAF Programme
-West Northamptonshire Council has delivered the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for the past five years in line with Department for Education guidance. The programme provides eligible children and young people with access to nutritious meals, enriching activities, physical activity opportunities, and food education during school holidays.
-As part of our Best Start in Life ambition, we are seeking innovative and inclusive delivery models that respond to local needs and help ensure children and young people
can thrive.
Purpose of the Information Session
-This session will provide potential providers with an overview of the forthcoming HAF procurement opportunity and an opportunity to engage directly with Council officers. The session will include:
- Presentation on the future HAF Programme and commissioning intentions.
- Overview of the procurement process.
- Guidance on using the In-Tend procurement platform.
- Review of the market engagement information pack.
- Dedicated Q&A session.
Market Engagement Objectives
The Council is seeking to:
- Understand market readiness to deliver the HAF Programme.
- Explore options for future delivery models and commissioning approaches.
- Gather feedback on workforce recruitment and retention challenges.
- Raise awareness of the forthcoming tender opportunity.
- Support organisations to assess their capacity and readiness for procurement.
- Inform the development of the future service specification and HAF Coordination Service model.
The session is open to:
- Existing and prospective HAF providers
- Community and voluntary organisations
- Youth organisations
- Sports, leisure and cultural providers
- SEND providers
- Faith and community groups
- Organisations interested in delivering the HAF Coordination Service
To register your interest, please email [email protected] by 14 September 2026.
CPV: Education and training services · Primary education services · Secondary education services · Technical and vocational secondary education services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Northamptonshire Council buys Technical and vocational secondary education services (CPV 8021), and who usually turns up
West Northamptonshire 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: Technical and vocational secondary education services (CPV 8021) →
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 Midlands (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East Midlands.
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 34 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 bid2% / 15%
2–35% / 33%
4–68% / 28%
7+86% / 24%
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 estimate16% / 30%
Within ±2%53% / 53%
Above estimate32% / 17%
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 8021Published estimate£2.0m
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 79 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid15%
2–333%
4–628%
7+24%
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
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 5 May 2026, 12:21 BST
- Last source update
- 24 Aug 2026, 17:09 BST
- Authority reference
WNC00000605- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-080565- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069134Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
5 May 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published170 days ago5 May 2026, 12:21 BST
- Latest notice published59 days ago24 Aug 2026, 17:09 BST
- Market engagement38 days ago14 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
Information Session Details:
Date: Tuesday 15 September 2026 Time: 12:30pm to 2:00pm Location: Microsoft Teams
Registration deadline: 14 September 2026
To register your interest and receive the Microsoft Teams joining link, please email: [email protected]
- Tender notice expected23 days ago29 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 160 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 May 2026, 12:21 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Aug 2026, 17:09 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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender