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Official UK procurement notice
Reopening (1) of the Flexible Framework for Care at Home and Housing Support Services
Authority: Renfrewshire Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionRenfrewshire Council has an existing Flexible Framework ("framework") for the provision of Care at Home and Housing Support Services under the direction of Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (RHSCP).
The framework allows RHSCP to purchase services to support (predominantly older) people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible with the care and support they need being tailored to them, provided in a tailored and responsive manner. There may also be the occasional requirement for a Renfrewshire Council Children’s Services to arrange support services for a child.
The Service is delivered 24 hours per day, 52 weeks per year including public holidays. The size of each individual package of care varies and is dependent on the individual’s assessed needs and outcomes.
As the services provided by this framework fall within the ‘Social and Other Specific Services’ category, and it is subject to the procurement regimes set out in section 7, Social and Other Specific Services, both of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, a flexible approach was designed which allows “new entrants” to apply to be on the framework throughout the duration, as and when determined by RHSCP.
Read the full description (1,475 more characters)
RHSCP now wish to reopen the framework to new entrants, to ensure capacity to deliver services across Renfrewshire. The process followed will be the same process used to appoint the original providers. Any tenderer bidding for appointment to the framework will be required to satisfy the same minimum criteria as those awarded a place under the original tender process.
INTERESTED PARTIES MUST READ THE Invitation to Tender document FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS FRAMEWORK.
- Technical and Professional Ability (2 examples of previous experience of delivering similar services. These MUST be within the last 3 years and demonstrate relevant experience and capacity);
- Care Inspectorate Requirements (Registered to deliver a Combined Support Service - Care at Home and a Housing Support Service (or ongoing application for Combined Service);
- Care Inspectorate minimum Quality Grade of 3 for all key questions;
- SSSC Registration and PVG Checks;
- Insurance Requirements;
- Financial Standing Requirements;
- Health and Safety Requirements;
- Cyber Security Requirements.
TENDERERS MUST MEET THE MINIMUM CRITERIA, OTHERWISE THEIR SUBMISSION WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM EVALUATION AND THEY WILL NOT BE APPOINTED TO THE FLEXIBLE FRAMEWORK.
Any Tenderer who does not meet the minimum requirements will not be eligible for appointment to the Flexible Framework but may participate in any future reopening of the Flexible Framework when these requirements have been met.
CPV: Health and social work services · Social services · Social work services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 5 yrs 1 mo from 1 Apr 2027 — This requirement is being tendered under the regulations applicable for Social and Other Specific Services of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. The Council is reopening the Flexible Framework for New Entrants to be added. New Entrants will be subject to the same minimum requirements as those who responded to the initial Contract Notice establishing the Flexible Framework.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1As the services provided by this framework fall within the ‘Social and Other Specific Services’ category, and it is subject to the procurement regimes set out in section 7,...RenewalPublished value£160,000,000
- Extensions
- The Flexible Framework duration is 4 years from the Commencement Date (01 May 2025) with the option to extend for up to 12 months on 3 occasions - this is the period of contract for the entire Flexible Framework. It is anticipated that the Reopening (1) Appointment Date will be 01 April 2027 - anticipated to expire on the 30 April 2029; or should all extension options be taken, 30 April 2032
- Variant bids
- not allowed
What it takes to win
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add morePublished sub-criteria (3)
- Technical Questions — 90%
- Community Benefits — 5%
- Fair Working Practices — 5%
Published award criteria (4)
- Technical Questions — 90%
- Community Benefits — 5%
- Fair Working Practices — 5%
- price — Pass/Fail
- Suitability
List and brief description of conditions: Mandatory Requirement - Care Inspectorate Registration and Grades 1 Tenderers must be registered with the Care Inspectorate to deliver a Support Service - Care at Home for the Service they are tendering to be on the more…
Flexible Framework. - All Services being tendered to be on the Flexible Framework must have a minimum Quality Grade of 3 for all key questions. 2 Tenderers must also be registered to deliver a Housing Support Service as a combined service, or evidence an ongoing application with the Care Inspectorate to do so. - Where a Tenderer DOES have the appropriate combined Housing Support Service registration, the combined service being tendered to be on the Flexible Framework must have a minimum Quality Grade of 3 for all key questions. - Where a Tenderer DOES NOT have the appropriate combined Housing Support Service registration, they must evidence a live and ongoing application for this, and confirm understanding that NO APPOINTMENT TO THE FRAMEWORK WILL BE MADE until evidence of the completed application has been submitted to the Council. Any Tenderer who does not meet the requirement prior to the Tender Deadline will not be eligible to join; however, they may participate in a future reopening of the Flexible Framework once these requirements have been met - Economic & financial standing
List and brief description of selection criteria: The Council would expect Tenderers to have a minimum Dun & Bradstreet Failure Score of 20. Where a Tenderer’s D&B Failure Score is below this minimum threshold or is not available, the Tenderer will be more…
required to provide supporting documentary evidence to demonstrate financial stability to the satisfaction of the Council.Minimum: The minimum insurances required to obtain a place on the Flexible Framework are detailed in Section V1.3 of this Contract Notice. - Technical & professional ability
As per Part 4C: Services of the SPD, Tenderers must provide 2 examples that demonstrates experience that is relevant to this procurement exercise. Examples should be from within the last 3 years and must include delivery of Services which are registered with more…
the Care Inspectorate as a Support Service - Care at Home, and where applicable, registered with the Care Inspectorate to deliver a Housing Support Service. The examples must also have Care Inspectorate Quality Grades of 3 or above for all key questions in the Care Inspectorate quality indicator framework. Tenderers must detail the Tenderer’s role in delivering the contracts including, if relevant, any instances where the Tenderer has been able to demonstrate added value or innovative solutions. Tenderers must demonstrate their previous experience in delivering services which ensure capacity and capability to deliver the required Renfrewshire Council Services. Tenderers must demonstrate experience of appropriately skilled and qualified staff providing support for people with varying needs.Minimum:Technical Experience Providers must provide 2 examples of previous experience in delivering similar services - as a Care Inspectorate registered Support Service - Care at Home, and as appropriate a more…
Housing Support Service and have minimum quality grades of 3 for key questions in … - Technical & professional ability
Staff delivering the Service must be SSSC registered. Staff must be PVG checked. Provider’s must be registered with the Care Inspectorate as outlined in III.1 Conditions for participation (III.1.1 Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including more…
requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers) and the Invitation to Tender.
- Staff
- Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Renfrewshire Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531) — and who usually turns up
Renfrewshire Council’s own published record, next to the Scotland market for the same work. This notice is a framework or DPS, so only frameworks and DPS are compared. Whole-market view: sector page →
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 frameworks and DPS only — direct awards report one bid by definition and are left out. Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
Renfrewshire Council
framework/DPS notices in 36 months: 5 in CPV 8531 · 5 in division 85 · 13 in all categories
Scotland · Social work services (CPV 8531)
framework/DPS notices delivered in Scotland in 36 months: 88 in CPV 8531 (88 contested) · 162 in division 85 (159 contested)
robust · n=6 Awards in Renfrewshire Council (all categories, n=6 pairs) land a median at estimate; this notice publishes no GBP estimate to apply it to.
Who you are likely to meet
Suppliers on this authority’s earlier similar contracts, then suppliers with a matching track record — from published award history, not a bid list
The matcher links this notice to “Flexible Framework for Care at Home and Housing Support Services” of this authority, but none of the 14 panel members sit in a category matching this notice.
Suppliers with a similar track record — and how they price
| Supplier | Evidence | Last award | Their award vs estimate | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheatley Care Large | 10 class wins · 2 lots for this buyer | 2 months ago | no comparable pairs | 85% |
| Call-in Homecare Limited SME | 15 class wins · 1 lots for this buyer | 1 months ago | no comparable pairs | 81% |
| Independent Lifestyle limited trading as Compcare SME | 6 class wins · 1 lots for this buyer | 7 months ago | no comparable pairs | 79% |
| HRM HOMECARE SERVICES LTD. SME | 7 class wins · 2 lots for this buyer | 5 months ago | no comparable pairs | 79% |
| SCRT Limited SME | 2 class wins · 2 lots for this buyer | 14 months ago | no comparable pairs | 79% |
Matched by the nightly worker on class wins, buyer history, delivery geography, scale and notice text; relevance is a 0–100% heuristic score, not a probability of bidding. “Their award vs estimate” is that supplier’s median on its own comparable single-supplier wins, CPV 8531 first. Nobody here is known to be bidding.
Method and what to read with care
- Two columns, no blending. The authority column walks its own record only: notices in the 4-digit class, then the 2-digit division, then all categories (36 months, per lot, contested only), and as a last resort its 24-month row across all categories (per notice, every route). The market column is the notice’s primary delivery ITL1 × the same class, then division (36 months). Nothing is filled from the UK-wide class; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable.
- Per lot, contested only. Find a Tender publishes bid counts per lot; a seven-lot tender is seven contests. Procedures awarded without competition (limited / direct) are excluded from bids, price pairs and decision days — they report one bid by definition. Frameworks and DPS are a separate population from contracts (6–7 bids per lot against 2–4) and only the notice’s own kind is shown.
- 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). Award-vs-estimate pairs need a lot estimate, one active award on the lot, one canonical supplier and a gap under 60 %; about 30 % of pairs are exact matches (the buyer published the award at the estimate). n is on every figure; below 3 the tile is muted, never hidden.
- Pounds. The expected award applies the authority’s median movement (or the region’s, when the authority has fewer than 3 pairs) to this notice’s estimate; the middle half uses the region’s quartiles. A multi-lot notice publishes an envelope, so the movement is applied per lot, never to the total. A benchmark, not a recommended price.
- “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 · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open admission
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 18 Sept 2026, 16:10 BST
- Last source update
- 18 Sept 2026, 16:10 BST
- Award evaluation window
- 30 Oct 2026, 12:30 GMT — …
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06c057
- Electronic trading
- e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
- Performance terms
- Providers must meet and uphold all the required criteria listed for the duration of the Flexible Framework and Individual Service Contracts called off from the Flexible Framework.
- Review procedure
- An economic operator that suffers or risks suffering, loss or damage attributable to breach of duty under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 (SSI2015/446, as amended) may bring proceedings in the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session in accordance with Regulation 88 of the 2015 Regulations.
Publisher note: Minimum Requirements - Insurance All Tenderers will be required to evidence the following insurances (full details are listed within the Invitation to Tender). i) Public Liability To a minimum indemnity limit of 10,000,000GBP each and every claim. Liability must not exclude abuse and/or molestation cover. ii) Employers’ Liability To a minimum indemnity limit of 10,000,000GBP each and every claim. iii) Statutory Third-Party Motor Vehicle Liability Where a vehicle is used in delivery of the Service, statutory third-party motor vehicle cover, OR where there is no company fleet and employees use their own vehicles instead, a letter signed by a person of appropriate authority confirming that the provider has ongoing arrangements in place. iv) Professional Indemnity Where a Provider is employing any Staff who are professionally qualified in relation to delivery of Services, to a minimum indemnity of 2,000,000GBP any one incident (without limit to the number of incidents), OR in the aggregate, and where in the aggregate, a minimum of one automatic reinstatement of the limit in any one period of insurance OR, where no automatic reinstatement is available, 5,000,000GBP in the annual aggregate. Where a Services include the provision of care and treatment (including, but not limited to where the Service involves the administration of medicines) the Provider shall as a minimum, effect and maintain one of the following insurances and minimum levels of cover: (a) A care and treatment extension to the existing public liability policy, to a minimum indemnity limit of 5,000,000GBP; (without limit to the number of incidents) OR, in the aggregate, and where in the aggregate, a minimum of one automatic reinstatement of the limit in any 1 period of insurance OR, where no automatic reinstatement is available, 10,000,000GBP in the annual aggregate. (b) Where applicable, Medical Malpractice Liability Policy to a minimum indemnity limit of 5,000,000GBP any one incident (without limit to the number of incidents) OR, in the aggregate and where in the aggregate, a minimum of one automatic reinstatement of the limit in any one period of insurance OR, where no automatic reinstatement is available, 10,000,000GBP in the annual aggregate. The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 32358. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343 The Contracting Authority does not intend to include a sub-contract clause as part of community benefits (as per Section 25 of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014) in this contract for the following reason: The nature of the Services do not align with Subcontracting Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/ A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows: The approach to Community Benefits within the Flexible Framework will be linked to cumulative annual spend (of ISCs) with a Provider following award of the Flexible Framework. As part of the Tender Submission for the Flexible Framework, Tenderers will be required to demonstrate their commitment to delivering Community Benefits throughout the Flexible Framework. Throughout the Flexible Framework when the Council purchases Services, it will earn Community Benefit points. The number of points earned will correlate to the level of cumulative spend for the previous 12 months. The Council will then agree with the Provider the Community Benefits to be delivered and timescales for this, using the Council’s Community Benefits Outcome Menu as the basis for discussion/agreement of Community Benefits to be delivered. (SC Ref:843248)
How to participate & submission route
Apply via Public Contracts Scotland- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Appointment period ends
- 30 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- —
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission"}
- Accepted languages
- en
- Bids opened
- 30 Oct 2026, 12:30 GMT
Timeline
6 published dates · Europe/London- Next notice expected15 days ago4 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
- Notice publishedearlier today18 Sept 2026, 16:10 BST
- Admission / appointment period endsin 42 days · period end, not a bid countdown30 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Bids openedin 42 days30 Oct 2026, 12:30 GMT
- Bids must remain valid untilin 192 days29 Mar 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract startsin 194 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
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
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 18 Sept 2026- Status changed to active18 Sept 2026, 16:10 BST
- Procurement method changed18 Sept 2026, 16:10 BST
- Deadline published: 30 Oct 2026, 12:00 GMT18 Sept 2026, 16:10 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- See VI.4.3 belowReview body
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice; the tender pack is on the portal.