Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST

Official UK procurement notice

PQNV 025 - Digital Mental Health Prevention and Emotional Wellbeing Support Offer in Shropshire

Authority: Shropshire Council (Local council)

ServicesBelow thresholdLight touch regime
Planned pipeline value£30,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 19 Jul 2030 · starts 20 Jul 2027
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION. THIS IS A MARKET ENGAGEMENT. Any future model will need to take account of Shropshire’s rurality and the diverse needs, preferences and circumstances of local residents, alongside local system priorities, strategies and policies.

What is being bought

Published requirement description

THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION. THIS IS A MARKET ENGAGEMENT.

Shropshire Council is currently reviewing its future approach to universal mental health prevention and early-help support. As one part of this review, the Council wishes to understand the range of digital mental health prevention and emotional wellbeing models currently available, their evidence base, accessibility, affordability and potential applicability to Shropshire.

This engagement does not indicate that the Council has decided to recommission a digital service. Findings will inform a wider options appraisal alongside local needs evidence, review of current provision, stakeholder engagement and consideration of alternative approaches.

The overarching aim is to ensure that residents with low-level mental health or emerging wellbeing needs can access timely, appropriate support that helps prevent escalation into more complex need and reduces avoidable demand on statutory services. Digital support is being considered as part of a wider suite of accessible offers that may include social prescribing, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) provision and community-based support. Any future model will need to take account of Shropshire’s rurality and the diverse needs, preferences and circumstances of local residents, alongside local system priorities, strategies and policies.

Strategic context

Mental health and wellbeing are central to quality of life, resilience and the ability to participate in education, work, family life and communities. Good mental wellbeing is also protective against physical illness, social inequalities and unhealthy lifestyles.

Demand for mental health support has increased significantly, particularly among children and young people, many of whom experience long waits for care. Nationally, around one in five people are affected by a common mental health condition, and a substantial proportion of mental health problems are established by early adulthood (age 24).

This reinforces the importance of prevention and early intervention. Providing timely support for people with low-level mental health needs can help people manage distress earlier, maintain independence and stay connected to education, work, family life and their communities.

The emerging national direction for mental health in England also places greater emphasis on shifting from crisis-led care towards prevention, delivering support at place and within communities, and embracing the opportunities offered by digital innovation. The future offer in Shropshire should therefore support earlier, proportionate and accessible help, while complementing wider local mental health, wellbeing and community support pathways.

Current service context

Shropshire Council currently commissions a digital mental health and emotional wellbeing offer for residents aged 16+, providing anonymous online access to moderated peer support, self-management resources and learning tools. The current arrangement provides a limited number of licenses annually.

The Council is not necessarily seeking a like-for-like replacement through this engagement and is interested in understanding alternative digital models, approaches and innovations that could achieve preventative and early-help outcomes.

The Council is interested in understanding features that;

Are accessible without diagnosis or clinical referral

Supports people experiencing emerging mental ill health or reduced emotional wellbeing

Encourages self-management and early-help

Provides safe onward escalation where necessary

Is accessible across a large rural geography

Can reach groups that may not engage with traditional services

Is capable of generating meaningful information about reach, utilisation and outcomes to support review of impact and best value discussions

CPV: Health services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 3 yrs
Contract period: 20 Jul 2027 – 19 Jul 2030 (3 yrs)
Delivery: West Midlands

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

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

Shropshire 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: 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 buyerShropshire Council · division 85
The marketHealth services (CPV 8510) · West Midlands
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Buyer: 7 of 16 known-size awards · market: CPV 8510 · West Midlands, n=555
44%66%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in West Midlands.

Buyer: 11 of 18 known-location awards · market: CPV 8510 · West Midlands, n=842
61%71%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i
Buyer: 12 decided notices · market: CPV 8510 · West Midlands, n=12
23 days69 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 23 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

The market share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Buyer: exactly 7 of 16 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8510 · West Midlands, n=312
44%65%

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
This buyer15 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
33% had one bid
The market87 lots with bid counts · CPV 8510 · West Midlands
23% had one bid
% of lots with a published bid count: this buyer (15) / the market (87) · select a colour for counts
1 bid33% / 23%
Buyer: 5 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 20 of 87 lots with published bid counts.
2–333% / 30%
Buyer: 5 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 26 of 87 lots with published bid counts.
4–633% / 25%
Buyer: 5 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 22 of 87 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 22%
Buyer: 0 of 15 lots with published bid counts. Market: 19 of 87 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i
This buyer14 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
14% below estimate
The market44 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8510 · West Midlands
45% below estimate
% of lots with an estimate and award: this buyer (14) / the market (44) · select a colour for counts
Below estimate14% / 45%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 20 of 44 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%86% / 41%
Buyer: 12 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 18 of 44 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 14%
Buyer: 0 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 44 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 851036 monthsPublished estimate£30k
Expected competition
i

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 87 past lots.

—No model forecast yet23% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 87 similar lots
1 bid23%
20 of 87 similar past lots received 1 bid (23%).
2–330%
26 of 87 similar past lots received 2–3 (30%).
4–625%
22 of 87 similar past lots received 4–6 (25%).
7+22%
19 of 87 similar past lots received 7+ (22%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £30k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see 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
25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST
Last source update
25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST
Authority reference
PQNV 025
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-091189
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health services
Delivery area
West Midlands (UKG22)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077af9 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

25 Sept 2026 → 20 Jul 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published49 days ago
    25 Sept 2026, 17:20 BST
  2. Market engagement31 days ago
    12 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    Organisations interested in participating in this pre-market engagement exercise are asked to respond to the questions below by 4pm on Monday 12th October 2026 by emailing [email protected]

    Please use the following title for your email: PME: Digital Mental Health Prevention and Emotional Wellbeing Support Offer

    Following receipt of responses, providers will be invited to attend a short follow up Microsoft Teams meeting week commencing 2nd November 2026, if needed. Please note, this date may change.

    Appointments will last approximately 45 minutes. If required, providers will be contacted by [email protected] to arrange a meeting with the lead Public Health Consultant and system partners. Once confirmed, participants will receive a Microsoft Teams meeting invitation and joining instructions.

    Personal details will be stored securely, treated confidentially and used only for the purpose of communicating about this engagement opportunity.

    Questions

    Your delivery model and preventative role: Briefly describe your digital offer, the population it is intended for and how it supports mental health prevention, early help and self-management before specialist or clinical intervention is required. What is distinctive about your approach compared with conventional digital self-help or peer support models?

    Accessibility, reach and engagement: How do residents' access and engage with the service and what level of annual reach and active use could reasonably be expected for a Shropshire Local Authority area offer? Please describe any registration or license limits, how demand above capacity would be managed and what support you provide to promote uptake and continued engagement.

    Inclusion and Shropshire fit: How would your service provide accessible, inclusive and equitable service for Shropshire residents including for rural communities, people experiencing digital exclusion or low digital confidence and those with additional accessibility, disability, language or cultural needs? How could the offer be tailored to local needs, pathways (including local information and signposting) along with identifying priority populations.

    Digital innovation and user experience: What digital tools, features or service design approaches would you use to promote early help, improve user experience, encourage engagement and provide added value beyond traditional support models?

    Evidence and Outcomes: What evidence supports the effectiveness of your approach for prevention and early help outcomes? Please state if this is independent evidence or internal provider generated evaluation and describe the outcomes routinely measured, including any evidence relating to wellbeing changes, self-management, prevention of escalation or use of other services.

    Reporting and intelligence: What routine commissioner information, insights and data can be provided to support service monitoring, learning, assurance and reporting to relevant boards or governance groups? For example, on access, utilisation, demographics/inequalities, outcomes and user experience?

    Affordability, added value and sustainability: For the purposes of this market engagement only, please describe what could be provided within an indicative annual affordability envelope of approximately £30,000 excluding VAT. This does not represent an approved budget or commitment to commission.

    Safeguarding, risk and clinical governance: Please describe safeguarding, risk management, escalation and clinical governance arrangements would you put in place to ensure residents receive safe, appropriate and timely support, including where needs escalate beyond the intended scope of the service?

    This pre-market engagement exercise does not constitute the commencement of a formal procurement process, and the Council is not committed to undertaking a procurement following this engagement.

    For the avoidance of doubt, information provided in response to this engagement will not be used by the Council to assess providers in any subsequent procurement process.

    The purpose of this exercise is to enable potential providers to share views, evidence and insight to inform the Council’s consideration of future service design and commissioning options.

    Any information provided by the Council during this process is for the purposes of pre-market engagement only. No representation, warranty or undertaking is given by the Council as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and the Council accepts no liability in relation to it.

  3. Today
    13 Nov 2026
  4. Contract startsin 248 days
    20 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    25 Sept 2026, 17:20 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

Shropshire Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PCLL-9577-QDZW Guildhall, Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury, West Midlands, SY3 8HQContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure