Official UK procurement notice
Provision of a 24/7 Section 12 Doctor Rota for Mental Health Act Assessments in Surrey - Market Engagement Opportunity
Authority: NHS Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSurrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board (ICB), in partnership with Surrey County Council, is exploring options to commission a sustainable, high-quality solution for the provision of Section 12 approved doctors to support the delivery of Mental Health Act assessments across Surrey.
We are seeking a provider (or group of providers) who can deliver a reliable, year-round rota of Section 12 approved doctors to attend Mental Health Act assessments when requested by local Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs). This will include:
- 24/7/365 coverage with one Section 12 doctor on-call at all times
- A back-up doctor for surge or dual-assessment requirements
- A single point of contact/booking system accessible to AMHP teams
- Full compliance with clinical governance, performance and response expectations
In 2024/25, there were 1,773 Section 12 assessments conducted in Surrey. The estimated contract value is £500,000 - £600,000 per annum, and we are seeking a provider with the capability to support this statutory function across a geographically large and diverse county. The contract duration is proposed as potentially 3 years with up to a 2 year extension option.
Attached is a draft service specification setting out our proposed requirements. At this stage, we are inviting expressions of interest, alongside any comments or questions providers may have regarding the scope, delivery model, or commercial approach.
We welcome responses from:
- NHS or independent sector providers with experience in urgent mental health delivery
- Clinical staffing agencies with a track record in rota management and mental health settings
- New market entrants with a strong track record of high standard delivery who can mobilise the required capabilities
- Partnerships or consortia (including clinical chambers or equivalent) who can jointly meet the full -service requirements
To register for a conversation with ICB colleagues please respond by Noon (12pm) on Friday 12th December 2025 via email to Stuart Meredith ([email protected]).
CPV: Health services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Planned
- Introduction and Background
Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board (ICB is seeking to commission a provider to deliver a consistent, reliable, and high-quality Section 12 doctor rota to support the delivery of Mental Health Act (MHA) assessments across the Surrey geography.
In 2024/25, there were 1,773 Mental Health Act assessments conducted across the Surrey system requiring a Section 12 approved doctor. The ICB is seeking a single commissioned solution to deliver sustainable, year-round coverage, coordinated via a central point of contact.
This service specification sets out the requirements for delivery of this essential statutory function.
- Service Objectives
The provider will:
- Ensure continuous 24/7, 365-day cover of at least one Section 12 approved doctor on-call for MHA assessments across Surrey.
- Maintain a back-up doctor to provide resilience for surges in demand or unplanned unavailability.
- Operate a centralised point of contact to enable timely booking and deployment of doctors by the Surrey AMHP service.
- Ensure response times and availability support legal and clinical requirements under the Mental Health Act.
- Scope of Service
3.1 Core Requirements
- Provision of one Section 12 approved doctor on-call at all times.
- Provision of a second back-up doctor to:
o Attend where two doctors are required.
o Provide resilience in cases of multiple simultaneous assessments or unavailability.
- Doctors must be Section 12 approved under the Mental Health Act, and appropriately indemnified and revalidated.
- Doctors must have recent experience in Mental Health Act assessments, ideally within community or urgent care settings. Additional information: Service Specification will be forwarded to providers responding to this market engagement opportunity. This is not dependent on booking a discussion with ICB colleagues.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How NHS Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board buys Health services (CPV 8510), and who usually turns up
NHS Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board’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 services (CPV 8510) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
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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 68 days of the bid deadline.
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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?
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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 bid16%
2–328%
4–635%
7+21%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate31%
Within ±2%64%
Above estimate5%
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 8510Published estimate£3.0m
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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 68 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid16%
2–328%
4–635%
7+21%
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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.
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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 · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 11 Nov 2025, 12:21 GMT
- Last source update
- 11 Nov 2025, 12:21 GMT
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-072762- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05de9cFind a Tender
Publisher note: This procurement falls under the Provider Selection Regime 2023. This notice is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) 2023 Prior Information Notice. The procurement of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this contract.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
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Timeline
11 Nov 2025 → 31 Mar 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published345 days ago11 Nov 2025, 12:21 GMT
- Tender notice expected205 days ago31 Mar 2026, 00:00 BST
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
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.