Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Rough Sleeping Rapid Assessment Outreach / In reach Services
Authority: Southend-on-Sea City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSouthend-on-Sea City Council (SCC) is seeking expressions of interest through this Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Notice in advance of a potential procurement opportunity for the provision of a Rough Sleeping Rapid Assessment Hub, Outreach and In-Reach Service.
The purpose of this engagement is to:
- Assess market interest in the opportunity and understand capability / capacity
- Gather feedback to help inform the future service specification and procurement approach.
- Understand innovative approaches to supporting rough sleepers and people at risk of rough sleeping.
- Ensure any future procurement is proportionate, transparent and reflective of market capability.
Background
In Spring 2018, Southend-on-Sea City Council worked with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to secure funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative.
Since the initial funding award, the Council has secured ongoing investment via the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant to support initiatives aimed at reducing rough sleeping and improving accommodation and support pathways for vulnerable residents.
The Council is now exploring future service delivery arrangements for the period 2027-2029 in line with future funding arrangements.
The current service model includes:
- Assertive Outreach and In-Reach Officers.
- A Rapid Assessment Hub providing emergency accommodation and support.
- Rough Sleeping Coordination.
- Rough Sleeper Navigators, including support for individuals with restricted eligibility.
- Personal Budgets to support engagement and access to accommodation and services.
- Additional accommodation provision during periods of increased demand.
- Housing Solutions and Private Sector Housing support.
Service Aims
The future service is expected to contribute towards the following objectives:
- Reducing rough sleeping within Southend-on-Sea through a flexible and responsive service.
- Supporting individuals into suitable accommodation through prevention and relief interventions.
- Delivering effective multi-agency interventions for individuals with complex needs.
- Supporting individuals to sustain accommodation and reduce repeat rough sleeping.
- Working in partnership with statutory and voluntary sector organisations to improve outcomes.
The Council is particularly interested in understanding suppliers' credible experience and ability to provide:
- Deliver rough sleeping outreach and in-reach services.
- Be able to provide at least 12 self-contained (no shared bathrooms) supported bedspaces within Southend-on-Sea from Service Commencement.
- Deliver rapid assessment and support interventions.
- Work collaboratively with housing, health, social care and voluntary sector partners.
- Support individuals with complex needs, including substance misuse, mental health and multiple disadvantage.
- Mobilise services within Southend-on-Sea.
- Deliver measurable outcomes and performance improvements.
Further detail can be found further below in this notice regarding Preliminary Market Engagement activity.
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 Southend-on-Sea City Council buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), and who usually turns up
Southend-on-Sea City 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 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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in East of England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 49 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 bid7% / 19%
2–343% / 29%
4–621% / 30%
7+29% / 22%
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 estimate40% / 38%
Within ±2%30% / 56%
Above estimate30% / 6%
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 85Published estimate£847k
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 85. The comparison uses that group.
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 266 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid19%
2–329%
4–630%
7+22%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOMELESS ACTION RESOURCE PROJECTEarlier contract | Rough Sleeping Rapid Assessment Hub & Outreach / InReach Servicestarted Jul 2026 | — | — | 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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
68% title match.
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.
68% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (68% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Rough Sleeping Rapid Assessment Hub & Outreach / InReach Service — held by HOMELESS ACTION RESOURCE PROJECT; no contract end date published.
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
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 23 Oct 2026, 12:35 BST
- Last source update
- 23 Oct 2026, 12:35 BST
- Authority reference
DN828059- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-100441- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078ee8Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
23 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published2 days ago23 Oct 2026, 12:35 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 9 days2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Suppliers are encouraged to provide information on any alternative delivery models, innovations or examples of good practice that may assist the Council in refining the future service specification.
Interested organisations are invited to complete and submit the accompanying PME Questionnaire via the ProContract link within this notice.
Link to PME Questionnaire: procontract.due-north.com ↗
Project Name: Preliminary Market Engagement: Provision of Rough Sleeping Rapid Assessment Outreach / In reach Services
Project Reference: DN828059
Procurement Timeline:
In addition to the above, please see below SCC’s indicative procurement timeline (subject to further amendment):
- Tender published: Late November – Early December 2026
- Tender Evaluation: January 2026
- Notification of Award: Late January 2026
- Mobilisation: February – March 2027
- Service Commencement: Late March 2027
Legal Disclosures:
Respondents are advised that the purpose of this notice is to engage in dialogue with the market. The scope of service, date of publication or potential contract value should not be taken as a final "version" of requirement.
This notice is not a call for competition to procure any services and is not published to reduce time limited for the receipt of tenders.
Interested parties will not be prejudiced by any response or (lack) to this notice. Nor shall a response to this notice guarantee an invitation to participate in this market consultation exercise or any future procurement process that Southend-on-Sea City Council may conduct.
- Contract startsin 158 days1 Apr 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published23 Oct 2026, 12:35 BSTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender