Official UK procurement notice
Preliminary Market Engagement - Provision of an Adolescent Support Service within the Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Procurement agent: Northern Health and Social Care Trust·On behalf of: Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service
What is being bought
Published requirement description****Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise****
The Business Services Organisation (BSO), Procurement and Logistic Service (PaLS), on behalf of the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT), is conducting this Preliminary Market Engagement exercise to engage with suppliers who are interested in delivering this Service.
The NHSCT plans to conduct a covered procurement for an Adolescent Support Service, which will offer direct support to adolescents, aged 10 – 17, and their families who require responsive intervention at times when it is needed the most.
This Service, aims to prevent family breakdown and the necessity of alternative care. The Service will help to prevent the escalation of need and the reduction of risk-taking behaviour therefore reducing the requirement for higher level statutory intervention.
The purpose of this preliminary market engagement is to develop the NHSCT’s requirements and approach to the procurement; to prepare the tender notice and associated tender documents; to identify suppliers that may be able to supply the service required; and to build capacity among suppliers in relation to the contract that may be awarded.
The intended outcome of this preliminary market engagement is to raise awareness in the market of this upcoming covered procurement, gauge the level of market interest in the provision of such services; engage and receive feedback from the market by outlining the NHSCT's proposals for the delivery of this service, its procurement plans and requirements, in advance of any formal tender process.
In addition, the NHSCT wishes to gain a better understanding within the market of the feasibility of the service requirements, the risks and potential issues relating to the service, the applicable social value initiatives; current market practices in respect of Sustainability and Net Zero; and cybersecurity.
The information gathered as part of this engagement will be used by the NHSCT to clarify and develop its requirements, assess the market's capacity and develop its procurement strategy.
Interested parties shall bear their own costs of participation in this market engagement and PaLS/NHSCT shall not be liable for any costs, expenses or losses howsoever arising from this engagement exercise.
Note - Any interest shown in the preliminary market engagement does not constitute a commitment to participate in a procurement exercise. Non-participation in this preliminary market engagement process does not preclude any supplier from participating in the covered procurement tendering process.
This covered procurement is governed by the Procurement Act 2023.
The service being tendered is classified as a Light Touch Service.
There is no guarantee that a procurement exercise will be initiated in respect of this service.
CPV: Health and social work services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Northern Health and Social Care Trust buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), and who usually turns up
Northern Health and Social Care Trust’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: Health and social work services (CPV 85) →
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 Northern Ireland (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Northern Ireland.
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 45 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 bid36%
2–335%
4–626%
7+3%
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 estimate25%
Within ±2%58%
Above estimate17%
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 #1Estimate not published
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 69 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid36%
2–335%
4–626%
7+3%
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arjo UK LtdEarlier contract | Pressure Area Care Products Inventory Management, Servicing and Repair of Trust Owned Products for the Southern Health and Social Care Trustnotice published Aug 2021 | — | £1.6m | Matched as the earlier contract |
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
- 22 Jan 2026, 15:06 GMT
- Last source update
- 22 Jan 2026, 15:06 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005846- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-060c76Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
22 Jan 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published273 days ago22 Jan 2026, 15:06 GMT
- Market engagement251 days ago12 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
To participate in this market engagement please read the Preliminary Market Engagement Paper (CP13) and complete and submit the Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire (CP12) via eTendersNI by the engagement deadline/submission deadline - 12th February 2026 at 15.00.
The Paper (CP12) and the Questionnaire (CP13) are both available via eTendersNI under Resource ID/CfT number 6295972. Please ensure you are registered with eTendersNI. Please note that the Contract dates in this Notice are estimated and subject to change. Please note that estimated date of publication of Tender notice in this Notice is an anticipated date and subject to change.
- Tender notice expected203 days ago1 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 71 days1 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 Jan 2026, 15:06 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
3 public bodies on the noticeClients of the procurement agent
- Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics ServiceBeneficiary authority
- Business Services OrganisationProcess contact pointProcuring entityBSO PaLS will be conducting the procurement process including this Preliminary Market Engagement process on behalf of the NHSCT. PaLS are the Centre of Procurement Expertise (CoPE) for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland.
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