Official UK procurement notice
Life Opportunities for Adults With Additional Needs
Authority: Norfolk County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThere are no tender documents at this stage - this is purely to allow expressions of interest and to inform all of market engagement.
Norfolk County Council intends to procure a new framework to deliver day opportunities (both hub-based and community/outreach) for approximately 2,170 adults with additional needs arising from mental health conditions, learning disabilities, autism, and/or physical disabilities. This will supersede all previous contractual arrangements for Day Services/Life Opportunities for these groups including the existing Life Opportunities Framework, introducing a single framework for adults with additional needs delivering across all specialisms.
Scope of the Future Procurement
The forthcoming framework, Life Opportunities for Adults With Additional Needs, will:
- Cover community opportunities and support for adults (18+) with additional needs primarily due to mental health conditions, learning disabilities, autism, and/or physical disabilities.
- Include hub-based day opportunities and outreach‑based delivery.
- Focus on outcomes related to wellbeing, independent living skills, community connection and employment support.
- Align costs across the market for similar delivery through built in price mechanisms.
- Replace session-based funding with a person‑centred hourly payment model.
- Contain robust terms and conditions to ensure quality and safeguard service users.
This framework will not include domiciliary care or older people’s day services, which are commissioned separately.
CPV: Social work and related services · Social work services without accommodation · Welfare services not delivered through residential institutions
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 5 yrs · up to 10 yrs from 4 Jan 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- “Life Opportunities for Adults With Additional Needs” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Norfolk County Council buys Social work and related services (CPV 8530), and who usually turns up
Norfolk County Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: Social work and related services (CPV 8530) →
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 the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in East of England.
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 81 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.
The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Awards are recorded, but published direct routes and bid counts do not establish this buyer’s share.
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 bid0% / 17%
2–30% / 17%
4–60% / 33%
7+100% / 33%
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.
On a framework or DPS, prices are agreed when work is called off.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Not comparable on a framework or DPS. The notice sets up a supplier panel and a ceiling value; what the work actually costs is agreed later, on each call-off or mini-competition, and those publish as contract notices of their own. The award-vs-estimate record of this market therefore sits on the call-offs; this page shows it on the contracts, not on the panel that frames them.
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 8530Estimate not published
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 111 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid8%
2–37%
4–617%
7+68%
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
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 17 Jun 2026, 14:13 BST
- Last source update
- 17 Jun 2026, 14:13 BST
- Authority reference
NCCT43380- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-057155- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06b716Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
17 Jun 2026 → 4 Jan 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published127 days ago17 Jun 2026, 14:13 BST
- Market engagement104 days ago9 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
This is a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice (PMEN) for information purposes only. It is not a formal invitation to tender. You will need to respond to the tender notice ( when it is issued) in order to be considered for these contracts.
The purpose of this PMEN is to maximise transparency and competition for the upcoming tender notice. All details in this PMEN are subject to being updated or changed in the tender notice. We are publishing this notice to share engagement outputs and to ensure as wider audience as possible are aware and informed of Norfolk County Council's (NCC) intentions.
Engagement with current providers has been taking place and the notes and reports from these conversations is available on the clarification tab on in-tend.
These documents can be viewed by registering on the NCC in-tend portal, expressing an interest in this tender. The PMEN fulfils the requirement for a Preliminary Market. Engagement Notice to be issued under the Procurement Act 2023.
Tender activity is planned for the second half of 2026, with the tender due to open in late summer/early autumn and contract awards in late 2026/early 2027.
The Council will hold a market engagement webinar on 9 July 2026 for all prospective providers to attend for further information. If you wish to attend the market engagement planned for 9 July 2026 please register on in-tend and express an interest in this project. Please then use the correspondence facility to send the email addresses of those individuals who wish to attend. The meeting will be carried out on Teams.
This procurement will be managed electronically via the Council`s e-procurement system. To participate in this procurement and gain access to documents when they are available, applicants must first be registered on the system at in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc ↗. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at intendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Buyer… ↗. Once registered you will be able to see the procurement project under the `tenders` section and `express an interest` in this tender. If you encounter any difficulties whilst using the system you can contact the In-tend support team by phoning +44 8442728810 or e-mailing [email protected].
- Tender notice expected20 days ago1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 74 days4 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Jun 2026, 14:13 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