Find a TenderOpen for tender Tender notice
Published 7 Oct 2026, 17:11 BST

Official UK procurement notice

NEET Prevention & Reduction Service

Authority: Manchester City Council (Local council)

ServicesOpen procedureAbove thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Published estimate£3,043,200≈ £1.5m / year · £3,651,840 inc. VAT
Submission deadline 2 Nov 202611:00 GMT · 25d 17h left
Clarification cut-off 23 Oct 202611:00 BST · questions to the authority
Contract term 2 yrsup to 4 yrs with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The service is an integrated NEET Prevention and Reduction Service to support the Local Authority in meeting its statutory duties for participation, tracking and support for young people aged 16 and 17. The service will deliver a preventative, intelligence-led model that reduces the number of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and reduces Unknown destinations.

The service is to support young people aged 13-16 who are at risk of becoming NEET; young people aged 16 and 17 who are NEET or at risk of disengagement; young people up to age 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan; Manchester Care Leavers; and other identified vulnerable cohorts to re-engage in education, employment and training through the provision of holistic support, and appropriate referral and signposting to specialist services.

CPV: Guidance and counselling services · Youth education services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1Renewal 2 yrsSMEVCSEPublished value£3,043,200
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 — 31 Mar 2029 (2 yrs) · up to 4 yrs with extensionsEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligibleDelivery: North WestTurnover guideline: ~£3,039,037/yr≈ 2× annual value
Value
£3,043,200 exc. VAT · £3,651,840 inc. VAT
Extensions
Two year contract with the option to extend for an additional two years.
80310000 Youth education services85312300 Guidance and counselling services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

What it takes to win
i

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 more
How bids are scored
Quality: 60%Price: 10%Social value: 20%Environmental: 10%
Published sub-criteria (4)
  • Quality — 60%
  • Price — 10%
  • Social Value — 20%
  • Environment — 10%
Conditions of participation2
  • Economic & financial standing
    See tender documents.
  • Technical & professional ability
    See tender documents.
What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 10 of 100 points — a 10% discount moves about 1 point. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
  • Turnover usually expected at this size: about £3,039,037 (twice the annual value).

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring — the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.

Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid

How Manchester City Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531) — and who usually turns up

Manchester City Council’s own published record, next to the North West England market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Social work services (CPV 8531) →

1

How the contest usually goes

This buyer’s published record next to the market where the work is delivered — contested contracts only, counted per lot

Question for the bid
This buyerManchester City Council · all categories
The marketSocial work services (CPV 8531) · North West 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: 43 of 72 known-size awards · market: CPV 8531, n=69
60%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 North West England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 75 of 98 known-location awards · market: CPV 8531, n=112
77%64%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North West 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: 23 decided notices · market: n=39
86 days49 days

Half of these awards were announced within 86 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 28 of 84 awarded contracts without a rival · market: n=66
33%38%

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 buyer83 lots with bid counts · all categories
11% had one bid
The market71 lots with bid counts · CPV 8531
21% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid11% / 21%
Buyer: 9 of 83 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 71 lots with published bid counts.
2–341% / 35%
Buyer: 34 of 83 lots with published bid counts. Market: 25 of 71 lots with published bid counts.
4–629% / 20%
Buyer: 24 of 83 lots with published bid counts. Market: 14 of 71 lots with published bid counts.
7+19% / 24%
Buyer: 16 of 83 lots with published bid counts. Market: 17 of 71 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 buyer49 lots with estimate and award · all categories
31% below estimate
The market30 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8531
27% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate31% / 27%
Buyer: 15 of 49 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 30 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%55% / 73%
Buyer: 27 of 49 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 22 of 30 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate14% / 0%
Buyer: 7 of 49 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 30 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 8531Suitable for SMEs 24 monthsPublished value£3,043,200
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.

The bar shows 71 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—21% single-bid risk
Past bids on 71 similar lots
1 bid21%
15 of 71 similar past lots received 1 bid (21%).
2–335%
25 of 71 similar past lots received 2–3 (35%).
4–620%
14 of 71 similar past lots received 4–6 (20%).
7+24%
17 of 71 similar past lots received 7+ (24%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the winning 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 guide, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet — the published estimate is £3.0m, 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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueMatch
—

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.

SupplierWon in this categoryLive contractsAward vs estimate
—
Coverage and what to read with care
  • Each figure explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
  • When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
  • Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
  • “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Open for tender
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Light touch regime
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
7 Oct 2026, 17:11 BST
Last source update
7 Oct 2026, 17:11 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end — 18 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
Authority reference
P-1749
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Guidance and counselling servicesYouth education services
Delivery area
North West (UKD3)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078332 Find a Tender

How to participate & submission route

Official notice Submit via ProContract (Due North)
Submission portal named on this notice: ProContract (Due North) · Who buys & how to bid on ProContract
Supplier login requiredElectronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Free · short registration with manual review; public opportunity list
Expression of interest (EOI)
—
Tender submission deadline
2 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT
Clarification deadline
23 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
The Council is using the e-business portal known as the Chest. Applicants will need to register their details at the following link www.the-chest.org.uk . Once registered, applicants will be emailed a log-in and password which will allow them to gain access to the documentation relating to this opportunity. Applicants will need to electronically submit their completed tender documents, including procurement specific questionnaire, via the on-line portal by 11am on 2nd November 2026 as referred to in the tender documentation. Any clarification queries must also be submitted via the Chest website by the date referred to in the tender documentation. The link to the CHEST advert can be found here: https://procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/AdvertSummary?projectId=69a2d6e2-95c1-f111-813c-005056b64545&projectStepId=6fa2d6e2-95c1-f111-813c-005056b64545
Published estimate £3,043,200 excludes VAT (£3,651,840 including VAT).

Timeline

5 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Tender notice publishedearlier today
    7 Oct 2026, 17:11 BST
  2. Clarification questions byin 16 days
    23 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
  3. Submission deadlinein 26 days
    2 Nov 2026, 11:00 GMT
  4. Award decision expected byin 72 days
    18 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 175 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Nothing awarded yet
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Tender notice published
    7 Oct 2026, 17:11 BSTUK4

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Manchester City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PLNV-8798-LDMP Town Hall Extension, Manchester, North West, M60 2LA [email protected]

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Conflict of interest declarationtenderConflict of interest declarationNot published
  • Bidding documents and specificationstenderBidding documents and specificationsThe Council is using the e-business portal known as the Chest. Applicants will need to register their details at the following link www.the-chest.org.uk . Once registered, applicants will be emailed a log-in and password which will allow them to gain access to the documentation r…

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender