Official UK procurement notice
Regulation 44 — UK public procurement notice
Authority: Bradford Children & Families Trust (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBradford Children and Families Trust (BCFT) is seeking to appoint a suitably experienced provider to deliver an Independent Visitor Service in accordance with Regulation 44 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. The service will provide independent monthly visits to BCFT’s registered children’s homes within the Bradford District. The current requirement covers nine registered children’s homes, equating to a minimum of 108 visits per year. The number of homes may change during the contract term in line with the Trust’s service requirements. The Independent Visitor will be required to assess the quality of care provided, consider whether children are effectively safeguarded, review how each home promotes children’s welfare and wellbeing, and provide independent scrutiny of leadership, management, practice, records and the physical environment. The successful provider will be expected to engage meaningfully with children and young people, staff, managers, families and relevant professionals, ensuring that children’s views, wishes, feelings and lived experiences are captured and reflected within Regulation 44 reporting. Visits may be announced or unannounced and should take place at varied times, including evenings, weekends and school holidays where appropriate. Following each visit, the provider will produce timely, evidence-based Regulation 44 reports that meet statutory and Ofsted requirements. Reports must identify strengths, areas for improvement, safeguarding concerns, emerging themes and recommended actions. The provider will also be expected to work collaboratively with BCFT to support continuous improvement, effective escalation, contract monitoring and quality assurance across the Trust’s residential provision. The anticipated contract term is three years, with an option to extend for a further twelve months, subject to satisfactory performance and ongoing service requirements. The maximum total contract value is £240,000 excluding VAT, inclusive of the optional extension period. The requirement is not divided into lots. BCFT intends to appoint a single provider to deliver the complete service. The procurement will be conducted as a below-threshold competitive tender process under the Procurement Act 2023. Full details of the service requirements, evaluation criteria, pricing requirements and contract terms are set out in the tender documentation.
CPV: Social work and related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1RenewalPublished value£240,000
- Value
- £240,000 exc. VAT · £288,000 inc. VAT
- Extensions
The Authority may require additional Regulation 44 visits during the contract term, including visits arising from additional children’s homes being brought into scope. Any additional visits will be commissioned at the successful Supplier’s tendered cost per visit. The Authority does not guarantee any minimum volume of additional visits. All services commissioned, including any additional homes or visits and any more…
extension period, will remain subject to the maximum total contract value of £240,000 excluding VAT. · The Authority may extend the Contract for a further period of up to twelve months, from 1 February 2030 to 31 January 2031, subject to satisfactory performance, ongoing service requirements, available budget and approval by the Authority. The extension is optional and is not guaranteed. The maximum total contract value, including the extension period, is £240,000 excluding VAT.
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).
Tenders will be evaluated on the basis of 70% Quality and Social Value and 30% Price. The Quality and Social Value criteria comprise Service Delivery 20%, Children and Young People’s Voice 20%, Safeguarding 10%, Quality Assurance and Communication 10%, and Social Value 10%. Price will be evaluated using the methodology set out in the Invitation to Tender. Full details of the award criteria, scoring methodology, minimum quality requirements and pricing formula are contained in the tender documents.
- Condition of participation
Suppliers must complete and return the Procurement Specific Questionnaire with their Tender. Following the submission deadline, the Authority will assess whether Suppliers have the legal and technical ability to perform the Contract. This will include more…
appropriate insurance cover, relevant experience or other evidence of technical ability, data protection compliance, health and safety compliance and Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks for personnel delivering the service. Suppliers may rely on Associated Persons where permitted and must provide details of any intended Sub-Contractors. No minimum financial threshold applies. Full requirements and the assessment approach are set out in the Procurement Specific Questionnaire. These requirements will not be used to restrict the submission of Tenders.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
Social work and related services (CPV 8530) in Yorkshire and the Humber — and who usually turns up
Bradford Children & Families Trust has too little published record in this market to describe on its own; the Yorkshire and the Humber market stands beside whatever it has. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Social work and related services (CPV 8530) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Bradford Children & Families Trust
contract notices in 36 months: 7 in CPV 8530 (4 route not published) · 8 in division 85 (5 route not published) · 8 in all categories (5 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no bid reports published.
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no bid reports published.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no comparable estimate → award pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Nothing published for this buyer in this sector: no award dates published.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.
Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 17 notices.
i
How often this buyer awards without a competition.
Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 3 notices.
Yorkshire and the Humber · Social work and related services (CPV 8530)
contract notices delivered in Yorkshire and the Humber in 36 months: 126 in CPV 8530 (80 competed, 44 route not published) · 2,618 in division 85 (616 competed, 348 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 45 lots. 19 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 2) and 26 from older notices (bids received, middle 3).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 45 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 26 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
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.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 19 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 34 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 8530), last 36 months: 390 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
Based on the Yorkshire and the Humber market’s usual movement over 26 lots (CPV 8530), applied to the £240,000 estimate on this notice. The range comes from the region’s middle half.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- 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
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 25 Sept 2026, 17:03 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Sept 2026, 17:03 BST
- Authority reference
BCT26-13- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077af6Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via EU-Supply (CTM)- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Timeline
4 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedjust passed25 Sept 2026, 17:03 BST
- Clarification questions byin 21 days16 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 28 days23 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Contract startsin 128 days1 Feb 2027, 00:00 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published25 Sept 2026, 17:03 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender