Official UK procurement notice
NPT Parent Carers Service – Market Testing Exercise
Authority: Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNeath Port Talbot County Borough Council is considering future commissioning arrangements for a Parent Carers Service from 1 June 2027.
The service provides parent carers of children with disabilities with access to carers' needs assessments in line with the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Carers' assessments are a statutory requirement and remain a core function of the service. The service also provides Information, Advice and Assistance (IAA) and facilitates wider preventative support for parent carers.
The service is funded by Children and Young People Services and is specifically designed to support parent carers of children with disabilities. Support for other groups of carers (eg unpaid carers for adults who have disabilities) is commissioned through separate arrangements and is not within the scope of this market testing exercise.
The Council is undertaking a market testing exercise to better understand the market, explore potential future service models and gather feedback that will help inform future commissioning arrangements for the Parent Carers Service.
Purpose of Market Testing
The Council wishes to engage with organisations that may have experience of delivering carers assessments and IAA to parent carers of children with disabilities.
The purpose of the testing exercise is to:
- understand the level of market interest in delivering this type of service;
- better understand provider experience, capability and capacity;
- inform future commissioning and procurement decisions;
- identify opportunities and challenges associated with future service delivery;
- support the Council's understanding of the wider provider market.
Feedback gathered through this testing activity will help inform future planning and commissioning considerations.
Areas for Discussion
A discussion paper containing further information and specific questions will be circulated in advance of the testing sessions
Market Testing Sessions
Individual sessions will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams.
Sessions will last up to one hour and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Tuesday 24th November 2026
- 13:00 – 14:00
- 14:30 – 15:30
- 16:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 25th November 2026:
- 09:30 – 10:30
- 11:00 – 12:00
- 12:30 – 13:30
Thursday 26th November 2026
- 09:30 – 10:30
- 11:00 – 12:00
- 12:30 – 13:30
- 14:00 – 15:00
- 15:30 – 16:30
How to Register
Organisations wishing to participate should email:
Please provide:
- Organisation name
- Contact name
- Contact email address
- Preferred day & time slot(s)
Slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Joining instructions and the market testing discussion paper will be issued in advance of the session.
Important Information
This market testing exercise is being undertaken solely to inform the Council's understanding of the market and potential future commissioning options. It does not constitute a call for competition, procurement exercise or commitment by the Council to undertake any future procurement activity.
Any information gathered through this testing activity will be used to support future service planning and commissioning considerations. Participation in market testing will not provide any advantage or disadvantage in relation to any future procurement process.
CPV: Social work and related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council buys Social work and related services (CPV 8530), and who usually turns up
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council’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: 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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Wales (Cymru).
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 57 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 bid31% / 24%
2–338% / 44%
4–619% / 24%
7+13% / 7%
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 estimate53% / 27%
Within ±2%41% / 67%
Above estimate6% / 7%
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 8530Published estimate£105k
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 41 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid24%
2–344%
4–624%
7+7%
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
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 30 Oct 2026, 11:42 GMT
- Last source update
- 30 Oct 2026, 11:42 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-103119- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07947eFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
30 Oct 2026 → 1 Jun 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published9h ago30 Oct 2026, 11:42 GMT
- Today30 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 29 days28 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is considering future commissioning arrangements for a Parent Carers Service from 1 June 2027.
The service provides parent carers of children with disabilities with access to carers' needs assessments in line with the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Carers' assessments are a statutory requirement and remain a core function of the service. The service also provides Information, Advice and Assistance (IAA) and facilitates wider preventative support for parent carers.
The service is funded by Children and Young People Services and is specifically designed to support parent carers of children with disabilities. Support for other groups of carers (eg unpaid carers for adults who have disabilities) is commissioned through separate arrangements and is not within the scope of this market testing exercise.
The Council is undertaking a market testing exercise to better understand the market, explore potential future service models and gather feedback that will help inform future commissioning arrangements for the Parent Carers Service.
Purpose of Market Testing
The Council wishes to engage with organisations that may have experience of delivering carers assessments and IAA to parent carers of children with disabilities.
The purpose of the testing exercise is to:
- understand the level of market interest in delivering this type of service;
- better understand provider experience, capability and capacity;
- inform future commissioning and procurement decisions;
- identify opportunities and challenges associated with future service delivery;
- support the Council's understanding of the wider provider market.
Feedback gathered through this testing activity will help inform future planning and commissioning considerations.
Areas for Discussion
A discussion paper containing further information and specific questions will be circulated in advance of the testing sessions
Market Testing Sessions
Individual sessions will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams.
Sessions will last up to one hour and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Tuesday 24th November 2026
- 13:00 – 14:00
- 14:30 – 15:30
- 16:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 25th November 2026:
- 09:30 – 10:30
- 11:00 – 12:00
- 12:30 – 13:30
Thursday 26th November 2026
- 09:30 – 10:30
- 11:00 – 12:00
- 12:30 – 13:30
- 14:00 – 15:00
- 15:30 – 16:30
How to Register
Organisations wishing to participate should email:
Please provide:
- Organisation name
- Contact name
- Contact email address
- Preferred day & time slot(s)
Slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Joining instructions and the market testing discussion paper will be issued in advance of the session.
Important Information
This market testing exercise is being undertaken solely to inform the Council's understanding of the market and potential future commissioning options. It does not constitute a call for competition, procurement exercise or commitment by the Council to undertake any future procurement activity.
Any information gathered through this testing activity will be used to support future service planning and commissioning considerations. Participation in market testing will not provide any advantage or disadvantage in relation to any future procurement process.
- Contract startsin 213 days1 Jun 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published30 Oct 2026, 11:42 GMTUK2
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