Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 16 Jul 2026, 15:56 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Home Safety and Security Installation Service

Authority: Kent County Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£1,500,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 30 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Oct 2030 · starts 1 Nov 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Short Description:Kent County Council is undertaking preliminary market engagement on Tuesday 25 August 10:00-11.30 and Friday 4 September 10:00-11.30, to inform the future development of its Home Safety and Security Installation Service.

We are inviting organisations to attend an online market engagement event to help inform the future design and commissioning of the service.

The online sessions will be facilitated by Kent County Council and will include a presentation on the proposed service requirements, opportunities for discussion through facilitated group conversations, and interactive feedback activities to gather provider views and market intelligence.

This exercise is being conducted to:

•understand current market delivery models for domestic abuse sanctuary-style provision,

•gather insight on service design, delivery approaches, and capacity, and

•help shape potential future commissioning arrangements.

The Council is keen to engage with organisations that have experience of delivering property security and target hardening interventions within domestic settings. This includes providers with expertise in assessing, supplying, and installing security measures that help individuals remain safely in their own homes.

We are particularly interested in organisations that can deliver services in a professional, discreet, and trauma-informed manner. Experience of working with victim-survivors, vulnerable residents, or households experiencing safeguarding concerns will be beneficial.

Organisations from the domestic abuse, housing, community safety, safeguarding, and property security sectors are encouraged to participate. Providers with experience of partnership working across statutory and voluntary sector services, including housing, community safety, safeguarding, and domestic abuse agencies, will be well placed to contribute to discussions on future service delivery.

The Council is inviting organisations to contribute to this engagement to help:

•inform the development of the service model,

•understand different approaches to delivering sanctuary-style services,

•explore delivery options, including partnership models,

•review eligibility criteria and referral pathways, and

•assess market capacity and interest in delivering such a service.

This engagement will support the Council in developing an appropriate procurement approach and ensuring a fair and competitive process.

To express your interest in attending, or ask any questions about the online event, please email [email protected] by Friday 21 August.

Kent County Council intend to procure Home Safety and Security Installation Service through a tender process.

This procurement will be conducted in accordance with the new Procurement Act 2023. Please note this notice is not a call for competition; therefore, attendees are not expected to submit any documents at this stage.

Further information relating to this procurement will be published on Central Digital Platform and the Kent Business Portal at a future date. Interested providers are advised to create a supplier profile on the Kent Business Portal to receive notifications about the future procurement opportunity, once the formal tender is launched

The estimated contract value is up to £500,000 per annum.

Any financial information provided at this stage is indicative only and subject to change following completion of market engagement and internal approvals.

Estimated contract length is 3 years with the option to extend for a further 2 years, at this stage this is indicative only and subject to change following completion of market engagement and internal approvals.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:

www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/tenders/UK-UK-Maidst… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/respond/UK56ZKPW92 ↗

CPV: Access control system · Alarm system and antenna installation work · Installation services of fire protection equipment · Other community, social and personal services · Social services · Surveillance and security systems and devices

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Kent County Council buys Social services (CPV 8532), and who usually turns up

Kent County 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: Social services (CPV 8532) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerKent County Council · division 85
The marketSocial services (CPV 8532) · South East England
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 14 of 35 known-size awards · market: CPV 8532 · South East England, n=97
40%49%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 South East England.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 35 of 42 known-location awards · market: CPV 8532 · South East England, n=135
83%63%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South East England.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 21 decided notices · market: CPV 8532 · South East England, n=7
90 days39 days

Half of these awards were announced within 90 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 15 of 46 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8532 · South East England, n=130
33%75%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer14 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
21% had one bid
The market29 lots with bid counts · CPV 8532 · South East England
21% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid21% / 21%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 29 lots with published bid counts.
2–357% / 31%
Buyer: 8 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 29 lots with published bid counts.
4–67% / 31%
Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 29 lots with published bid counts.
7+14% / 17%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 29 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer7 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
57% below estimate
The market16 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8532 · South East England
44% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate57% / 44%
Buyer: 4 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%43% / 56%
Buyer: 3 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 16 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 853236 monthsPublished estimate£1.5m
Expected competition
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 29 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet21% single-bid risk
Past bids on 29 similar lots
1 bid21%
6 of 29 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–331%
9 of 29 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–631%
9 of 29 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+17%
5 of 29 similar past lots received 7+ (17%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.5m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
16 Jul 2026, 15:56 BST
Last source update
16 Jul 2026, 15:56 BST
Authority reference
CN260173
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-067395
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Access control systemAlarm system and antenna installation workInstallation services of fire protection equipmentOther community, social and personal servicesSocial servicesSurveillance and security systems and devices
Delivery area
South East (UKJ4)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06cd2e Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

16 Jul 2026 → 1 Nov 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published96 days ago
    16 Jul 2026, 15:56 BST
  2. Market engagement60 days ago
    21 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST

    To express your interest in attending, or ask any questions about the online event, please email [email protected] by Friday 21 August

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 41 days
    30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 376 days
    1 Nov 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    16 Jul 2026, 15:56 BST
    UK2

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

Kent County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PLDL-8938-YGYW Kent County Council | Sessions House, Maidstone, South East, ME14 1XQContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure