Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 26 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Preliminary Market Engagement Notice -North West Anti-Stigma Strategy and Action Plan

Authority: Lancashire County Council (Local council)

ServicesBelow thresholdLight touch regime
Planned pipeline value£83,333pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 31 Dec 2026 · starts 1 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Lancashire County Council is seeking to appoint an academic institution with substantial expertise in stigma and substance use to lead the development of the North West Anti-Stigma Strategy and associated Action Plan.

The appointed provider will be responsible for:

  • Convening and facilitating a Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Group.
  • Providing regular written updates and/or briefing sessions to substance use commissioners and stakeholders across the North West, coordinated via Lancashire County Council.
  • Conducting desk-based research to review and synthesise existing international anti-stigma strategies and action plans, from related fields particularly those related to HIV and mental health.
  • Organising and facilitating a North West consensus-building event.
  • Leading co-production groups involving individuals with lived/living experience.
  • Designing, distributing, and analysing a regional survey.

The findings from the literature review, consensus event, co-production groups, and survey will be synthesised to produce a comprehensive Anti-Stigma Strategy and Action Plan for the North West. These outputs will be reviewed and approved by the Steering Committee.

The delivery of this work will contribute to the following overarching objectives:

  • Reducing internalised stigma among individuals affected by substance use and those who support them.
  • Challenging and changing public attitudes and behaviors towards people with lived/living experience, their families, carers, and support networks.
  • Addressing and mitigating structural stigma and discrimination in identified settings.

CPV: Research and development services and related consultancy services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Lancashire County Council buys Research and development services (CPV 73), and who usually turns up

Lancashire County 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: Research and development services (CPV 73) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLancashire County Council · all categories
The marketResearch and development services (CPV 73) · 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: 94 of 142 known-size awards · market: division 73 · North West England, n=171
66%50%

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.

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

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 147 of 221 known-location awards · market: division 73 · North West England, n=183
67%16%

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

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 20 decided notices · market: division 73 · North West England, n=14
63 days49 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 63 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 32 of 111 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 73 · North West England, n=228
29%52%

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 buyer70 lots with bid counts · all categories
20% had one bid
The market24 lots with bid counts · division 73 · North West England
8% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid20% / 8%
Buyer: 14 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 2 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
2–330% / 29%
Buyer: 21 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 7 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
4–624% / 38%
Buyer: 17 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 24 lots with published bid counts.
7+26% / 25%
Buyer: 18 of 70 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 24 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 buyer56 lots with estimate and award · all categories
29% below estimate
The market28 lots with estimate and award · division 73 · North West England
61% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate29% / 61%
Buyer: 16 of 56 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 17 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%52% / 29%
Buyer: 29 of 56 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 28 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate20% / 11%
Buyer: 11 of 56 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 3 of 28 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 7312 monthsPublished estimate£83k

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 73. The comparison uses that group.

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 24 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet8% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 24 similar lots
1 bid8%
2 of 24 similar past lots received 1 bid (8%).
2–329%
7 of 24 similar past lots received 2–3 (29%).
4–638%
9 of 24 similar past lots received 4–6 (38%).
7+25%
6 of 24 similar past lots received 7+ (25%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4.5 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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £83k, 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.

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.

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
26 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT
Last source update
26 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-077089
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Research and development services and related consultancy services
Delivery area
North West (UKD)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e8d5 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

26 Nov 2025 → 1 Jan 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published337 days ago
    26 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT
  2. Market engagement322 days ago
    10 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Suppliers wishing to express interest in this opportunity should contact Lancashire County Council by email.

    Email responses should be sent to [email protected] by 4pm on Wednesday 10th December.

    Please use the subject line: "Expression of Interest - NW Stigma".

    Lancashire County Council are intending to commission these services on behalf of 20 local authorities across the North West of England.

    The Authority are undertaking this preliminary market engagement to assess the level of market interest and capability for the required services. The Authority may or may not carry out a request to quote exercise following this notice.

  3. Contract starts301 days ago
    1 Jan 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    26 Nov 2025, 09:53 GMT
    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

Lancashire County Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PBBJ-2179-TNXM PO Box 100, County Hall, Preston, North West, PR1 0LDContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure