Official UK procurement notice
Parenting Support Service · Medway Council (Jul 2026)
Authority: Medway Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionMedway Council is seeking to commission a Parenting Support Service as part of the Best Start in Life (BSiL) programme, aimed at improving outcomes for children in the early years.
The overarching aim of the service is to provide accessible, evidence-based parenting support and training to families, with a particular focus on increasing the likelihood of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception.
The service will deliver a blended model of universal and targeted support, combining community-based provision with more intensive home-based interventions.
Delivery will include:
•Community outreach and engagement, including regular stay-and-play sessions in wellbeing centres and other local venues
•A visible presence at community events to promote access and engagement
•Home visiting support, including both self-referral and Early Help pathways
•Support for parents to address wider determinants of health, working in partnership with the wider BSiL network to reduce health inequalities
•Early identification of perinatal mental health (PMH) and parent-infant relationship (PIR) needs, with appropriate signposting and referrals
The service will also play a key role in building community capacity through:
•Recruitment, training and coordination of volunteers to support home visiting and group-based interventions
•Delivery (in partnership with Parenting Workers) of evidence-based interventions, such as Incredible Years or other approved programmes
•Collaboration with Best Start in Life partners, including Best Start in Life Practitioners (BSIPs), to support families where there may be emerging SEND needs
This service will replace and integrate elements of current provision, including the Universal Parenting Programme and volunteer-led home visiting services, creating a more cohesive and outcomes-focused model of support for families.
•The Council is seeking a provider with the capability to deliver a high-quality, integrated service, working collaboratively across the system to improve early childhood outcomes and reduce inequalities.
CPV: Community health services · Health and social work services · Other community, social and personal services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Medway Council buys Social services (CPV 8532), and who usually turns up
Medway 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: Social services (CPV 8532) →
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 registered in South East England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in South East 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 79 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 bid25% / 17%
2–325% / 42%
4–650% / 25%
7+0% / 17%
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 estimate29% / 54%
Within ±2%43% / 46%
Above estimate29% / 0%
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 8532Published estimate£500k
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 24 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid17%
2–342%
4–625%
7+17%
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
- 2 Jul 2026, 11:04 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Jul 2026, 11:04 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-062135- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c21dFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
2 Jul 2026 → 1 Dec 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published111 days ago2 Jul 2026, 11:04 BST
- Market engagement98 days ago14 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
Medway Council Public Health is preparing to commission a parenting service and is seeking to engage with the market ahead of the formal procurement process.
We invite prospective providers to attend an online Market Engagement Event:
•Date: Tuesday 14th July 2026
•Time: 13:00-14:00
•Location: Microsoft Teams - - Please copy and paste the following into your internet address bar, URL bar to join the meeting –
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: teams.microsoft.com/meet/398431779167120 ↗
Purpose of the event:
•Share an overview of the service model being commissioned
•Outline the anticipated procurement process and indicative timelines.
•Provide an opportunity for prospective providers to ask questions.
•To seek feedback from the market to help shape the service model and specification
•To highlight key considerations, including TUPE implications and service integration expectations
•To outline the process of writing a successful tender
Who should attend:
Organisations with experience in delivering parenting support, early years and family services including:
•Providers of evidence-based parenting programmes
•Organisations delivering early help, family support, or home visiting services
•VCSE organisations with experience of community outreach and volunteer-led provision
•Providers with expertise in perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationships, or early childhood development
•Experience recruiting, training and mobilising volunteers
How to attend:
Please confirm your attendance via the following Forms link. If you are unable to attend on the date but would like to know more please indicate this in the form- forms.office.com/e/N4mtDrF6Nb ↗
Please log into the meeting via the Teams link provided
Important note:
This event is for information and engagement purposes only.
This event is subject to governance approval processes.
Attendance does not confer any advantage in the subsequent procurement process.
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 41 days1 Dec 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published2 Jul 2026, 11:04 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