Official UK procurement notice
Provision and Management of Creative Mentoring Service
Authority: Derbyshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDerbyshire County Council is seeking to commission a service to provide creative mentors for Derbyshire Children in Care and any other child or young person that falls within the scope of extended duties of the Virtual School from Reception to Year 13. The in-person mentoring service will be required regionally to Derbyshire and nationwide (within England) where children/young people are placed in other local authorities.
The Virtual School requires the Provider to have the capacity of up to 65 children/young people receiving support for up to one term at any one time.
The Provider will utilise a primary provider delivery model and will be responsible for managing the creative mentor service and network of mentors, taking the concept of the existing mentoring model to meet the needs of both children and young people in education and those who are at risk of suspension or permanent exclusion.
(It should be noted that this contract may be affected by Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). In accordance with Schedule 8 of the Procurement Act 2023, this contract may be novated to a successor council or otherwise modified to reflect the requirements of any new council arrangements arising from LGR. The exact nature of any modification or novation cannot be
determined at this time, but such changes will be managed under both the Procurement Act 2023 and the contractual provisions)
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 21 Jan 2029, 23:59 GMT.
CPV: Health and social work services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Bids received
- 5 bids received · 1 suppliers appointed
- Framework period
- 3 yrs · up to 6 yrs from 1 Sept 2026
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£1,872,000
- Economic & financial standing
Please see published tender documentation.
- Technical & professional ability
Please see published tender documentation.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published award criteria (3)
- Quality
- Price
- Social Value
- Economic & financial standing
Please see published tender documentation.
- Technical & professional ability
Please see published tender documentation.
- Price carries 25 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2.5 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- “Provision and Management of Creative Mentoring Service” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA, CPTPP)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 21 Jan 2029
- First published
- 14 May 2025, 12:52 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Jul 2026, 16:41 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 22 May 2026
- Authority reference
CCS042- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005519- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-051308Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Please see tender documentation
- Risks
Legislative changes
and/or
Other external factors, outside of the control of the Council and Provider on a global, national, regional or local level which would require changes to the way in which the contract is performed or the costs associated with delivering services.
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 18 Feb 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 4 Feb 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
14 May 2025 → 1 Sept 2026 · 11 dates- Planning notice published14 May 2025, 12:52 BST
- Market engagement344 days ago17 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
The Soft Market information can be accessed via the following link: procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗
The deadline for completion of the questionnaire is 10:00 on 17/11/2025
- Tender notice published279 days ago21 Jan 2026, 17:20 GMT
- Clarification questions by266 days ago4 Feb 2026, 10:00 GMT
- Admission / appointment period ends252 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown18 Feb 2026, 11:00 GMT
- Next notice expected243 days ago26 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Award decision expected by158 days ago22 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent126 days ago24 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Standstill ends116 days ago3 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published97 days ago22 Jul 2026, 16:41 BST
- Contract starts57 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
11 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 May 2025- Pipeline notice published14 May 2025, 12:52 BSTUK1
- Pipeline notice published22 Oct 2025, 10:00 BSTUK1
- Procurement method changed22 Oct 2025, 10:00 BST
- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Oct 2025, 08:06 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published21 Jan 2026, 17:20 GMTUK4
- Status changed to active21 Jan 2026, 17:20 GMT
- Deadline published: 18 Feb 2026, 11:00 GMT21 Jan 2026, 17:20 GMT
- Contract award notice published24 Jun 2026, 17:17 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete24 Jun 2026, 17:17 BST
- Contract signature expected7 Jul 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published22 Jul 2026, 16:41 BSTUK7
Published amendments (1)
Revised to indicate this will be a managed service and not be a framework.
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2025-10: 2 releases · 22 Oct 2025, 24 Oct 2025
- 2025-05: 1 release · 14 May 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mighty CreativesSMEVCSE1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2029 · up to 31 Aug 2032Extensions: Three, 1 year extension periods are available, subject to satisfactory performance, budget availability and on-going requirements for the service. | £1,872,000 inc. VAT | 17 Jun 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Provision and Management of Creative Mentoring Service · The Mighty CreativesSMEVCSE
- Signed
- 20 Jul 2026
- Value
- £1,872,000 inc. VAT
- Period
- 1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2029 · up to 31 Aug 2032 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- Three, 1 year extension periods are available, subject to satisfactory performance, budget availability and on-going requirements for the service.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5final-stage tenders · 6 at stage one | 3 | 2 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Framework contractors & participating bidders
1 commercial party on the notice- THE MIGHTY CREATIVESFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications (7)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender