Official UK procurement notice
Kinship Support Service for Kinship Carers in England
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department for Education is undertaking a market engagement exercise to inform the future procurement of kinship support services in England. The services are expected to provide free to access support for kinship carers and may include peer support, information, advice, training and related support activities. We are seeking views from the market on how a national offer of support to kinship carers could be delivered, while also supporting local authorities to develop the capability and capacity needed to play a greater role in the provision of support in the future, including through their Kinship Local Offer.
The engagement will help the Department understand market capacity, service delivery models, innovation opportunities and potential procurement approaches. Feedback received through this engagement will help inform the Department's requirements and proposed specification, ensuring that any future service reflects the needs of children and young people, the sector and potential providers.
CPV: Education and training services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Education buys Education and training services (CPV 80), and who usually turns up
Department for Education’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: Education and training services (CPV 80) →
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.
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 50 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 bid11% / 23%
2–341% / 30%
4–626% / 24%
7+22% / 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 estimate47% / 31%
Within ±2%29% / 56%
Above estimate24% / 13%
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 80Published estimate£2.3m
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 80. The comparison uses that group.
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 789 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid23%
2–330%
4–624%
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
- 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
- 7 Aug 2026, 10:40 BST
- Last source update
- 28 Sept 2026, 16:05 BST
- Authority reference
10497_SSQ857- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091562- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ded0Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
7 Aug 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 5 dates- Planning notice published79 days ago7 Aug 2026, 10:40 BST
- Latest notice published27 days ago28 Sept 2026, 16:05 BST
- Market engagement19 days ago5 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
Supplier engagement event
The Department will hold an initial supplier engagement event on Monday 5th October 2026 11am-11:30am.
The deadline for registering for this event is 17:00 on Sunday 4th October 2026 via Jaggaer.
The event can be accessed through the "View Opportunities" section of the Jaggaer e-Tendering portal.
Select the opportunity notice titled "Kinship Support Service for Kinship Carers in England- SSQ_848" to access the registration page.
The event is open to all potential suppliers, regardless of any previous engagement with the Department.
The session will provide an overview of the proposed National Kinship Carer Support Service and outline the subsequent market engagement activities.
Market Engagement - Supplier 121s
Following the engagement event, suppliers will be invited to attend individual 1:1s at the following dates and times which will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please only request a 1:1 meeting if you are able to share relevant experience, expertise or views on delivering a free-to-access support service for kinship carers, including approaches that support local authorities to build the capability and capacity to play a greater role in the provision of support over time.
Tuesday 6th October 2026
10:30-11:00
11:00-11.30
11:30-12:00
13:00-13:30
13:30-14:00
14:00-14:30
All correspondence relating to this market engagement exercise will be issued through Jaggaer.
Important notice
This notice:
- does not signify the commencement of a competitive procurement process;
- does not constitute any commitment by the Department for Education to procure services; and
- does not create any obligation for the Department.
Any funding estimates referred to during this market engagement are indicative only and may be subject to change. The Department makes no commitment at this stage regarding the final scope, value or funding envelope of any future procurement activity.
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 23 days16 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 158 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
6 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 7 Aug 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published7 Aug 2026, 10:40 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Aug 2026, 08:52 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Sept 2026, 15:50 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Sept 2026, 15:53 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Sept 2026, 15:54 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Sept 2026, 16:05 BSTUK2
Published amendments (4)
To communicate Market Engagement event 11am 5th October 2026
To communicate Market Engagement event 11am 5th October 2026
To communicate Market Engagement event 11am 5th October 2026
To communicate Market Engagement event 11am 5th October 2026
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2026-09: 1 release · 28 Sept 2026
- 2026-08: 2 releases · 7 Aug 2026, 17 Aug 2026
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 (6)
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
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender