Official UK procurement notice
Missing Children and Independent Return Home Conversation Service
Authority: Buckinghamshire Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionBuckinghamshire Council is seeking to recommission its Missing Children and Independent Return Home Conversation Service.
Statutory guidance requires children who have been reported missing to be offered an independent Return Home Conversation following their return, with the conversation normally taking place within 72 hours of the child returning home or to their care setting.
The Service will provide independent Return Home Conversations for eligible Buckinghamshire children and young people aged 10 to 17 inclusive following a missing episode, including Buckinghamshire children looked after who are placed outside the county.
The Service will identify safeguarding concerns, exploitation, unmet needs and factors contributing to missing behaviour, and support the identification and implementation of actions to improve safety and reduce repeat missing episodes. It will also provide Missing Interventions for children experiencing repeat or persistent missing episodes, emerging vulnerabilities or unmet needs.
The Provider will work within a multi-agency framework and use information gathered through service delivery to inform safeguarding, prevention, contextual safeguarding, disruption activity, strategic insight and partnership responses. The Provider will be responsible for delivering or securing out-of-county Return Home Conversations, including directly delivering conversations where appropriate and managing and quality assuring any subcontracted or host local authority arrangements.
The Contract will have an initial term of three years, with the option to extend for up to two further one-year periods, giving a maximum potential Contract term of five years.
CPV: Social work and related services · Social work services · Welfare services for children and young people
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedWhat 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 (2)
- Quality
- Price
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £955,794 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Buckinghamshire Council buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Buckinghamshire 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: Social work services (CPV 8531) →
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 South East England (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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 42 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 bid14% / 22%
2–336% / 31%
4–621% / 29%
7+29% / 19%
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 estimate45% / 24%
Within ±2%55% / 71%
Above estimate0% / 4%
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 85No real estimate
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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid34%
2–321%
4–626%
7+20%
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.
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| £8.3m16 awards in 36m · last 2 months ago | 10 live · £2.8m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=12 | |
POhWERLarge | £14m10 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago | 5 live · £6.3m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=10 |
| £45m26 awards in 36m · last 7 months ago | 11 live · £26m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=16 | |
| £47m13 awards in 36m · last 12 months ago | None on file | 37% below n=2 | |
| £51m9 awards in 36m · last 19 months ago | None on file | at estimate n=3 |
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- 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
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 5 May 2026, 13:45 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Oct 2026, 14:59 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 21 Dec 2026
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-100062- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069161Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via In-tend- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 19 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- —
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
5 May 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 6 dates- Planning notice published171 days ago5 May 2026, 13:45 BST
- Market engagement157 days ago19 May 2026, 23:59 BST
Market engagement to help shape the scope of the upcoming procurement exercise.
- Tender notice published1 day ago22 Oct 2026, 14:59 BST
- Today23 Oct 2026
- Submission deadlinein 27 days19 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 59 days21 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 159 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
5 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 May 2026, 13:45 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published22 Oct 2026, 14:59 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active22 Oct 2026, 14:59 BST
- Procurement method changed22 Oct 2026, 14:59 BST
- Deadline published: 19 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT22 Oct 2026, 14:59 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
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender