Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 20 Apr 2026, 11:37 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Market Engagement Event - Smokefree Sefton Stop Smoking Service

Authority: Sefton Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdSME suitable
Sectors: Health & Social Care (85) Delivery: UK
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 27 May 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 4 yrsends 31 Mar 2031 · up to 31 Mar 2034 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Sefton Council is holding an engagement event on Friday 15th May ahead of the re-tendering of Smokefree Sefton Stop Smoking Service 2027 - 2034

The procurement of this contract will be subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (PSR). For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 / Procurement Act 2023 will not apply to the future tender.

The contract value is provisional and will be confirmed at tender stage.

CPV: Health services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 4 yrsSME
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2031 (4 yrs) · up to 31 Mar 2034 with extensions
Delivery: UKEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Sefton Council buys Health services (CPV 8510), and who usually turns up

Sefton 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: Health services (CPV 8510) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerSefton Council · division 85
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: 9 of 13 known-size awards · market: no supplier sizes published
69%—

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.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 17 of 23 known-location awards · market: no winner locations published
74%—

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in the delivery region.

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: 7 decided notices · market: no decision dates published
66 days—

Half of these awards were announced within 66 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.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: exactly 14 of 24 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: no bid counts or routes published
58%—

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
14% had one bid
The marketNo bid counts published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
1 bid14%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with published bid counts.
2–336%
Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts.
4–643%
Buyer: 6 of 14 lots with published bid counts.
7+7%
Buyer: 1 of 14 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 buyer10 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
40% below estimate
The marketNo estimate-and-award pairs published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
Below estimate40%
Buyer: 4 of 10 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%50%
Buyer: 5 of 10 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate10%
Buyer: 1 of 10 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 851048 monthsSME suitableNo real estimate
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 487 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet24% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 487 similar lots
1 bid24%
119 of 487 similar past lots received 1 bid (24%).
2–332%
158 of 487 similar past lots received 2–3 (32%).
4–626%
127 of 487 similar past lots received 4–6 (26%).
7+17%
83 of 487 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 real estimate
The buyer published £0 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
ABL Health LtdEarlier contractSpecialist Stop Smoking Servicenotice published Feb 2024—£1.3mMatched as the earlier contract

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
20 Apr 2026, 11:37 BST
Last source update
20 Apr 2026, 11:37 BST
Authority reference
DN813476
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-035542
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068621 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Apr 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published185 days ago
    20 Apr 2026, 11:37 BST
  2. Market engagement160 days ago
    15 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    Interested providers should fill in the document provided via the Authority's tendering portal "The Chest" and return it by midday on Friday 8th May. Providers will then receive a Microsoft Teams invite to the engagement event on Friday 15th May.

    Link to "The Chest": www.the-chest.org.uk ↗

    Reference number: DN813476

  3. Tender notice expected148 days ago
    27 May 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    22 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 160 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    20 Apr 2026, 11:37 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

Sefton Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PTHP-5656-DLCN Magdalen House, Bootle, North West, L20 3NJContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure