Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 24 Apr 2026, 16:36 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Request For Information (RFI) - Advocacy Services for Adults and Children

Authority: Buckinghamshire Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 26 Aug 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsends 31 Mar 2030 · up to 31 Mar 2032 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Buckinghamshire Council (the Council) is requesting information to inform its future commissioning intentions for Advocacy services, for Adults and Children.

The Council is still deciding its approach and the information obtained by this Request For Information (RFI) will help to ensure the future service/s meets the Council’s strategic aims, fulfils its legal responsibilities and presents a viable opportunity for suppliers.

CPV: Health and social work services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 3 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Apr 2027 – 31 Mar 2030 (3 yrs) · up to 31 Mar 2032 with extensions
Delivery: South EastEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Buckinghamshire Council buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), 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: Health and social work services (CPV 85) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerBuckinghamshire Council · division 85
The marketHealth and social work services (CPV 85) · South East England
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 of 12 known-size awards · market: division 85 · South East England, n=921
67%43%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 8 of 18 known-location awards · market: division 85 · South East England, n=1,424
44%49%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 5 decided notices · market: division 85 · South East England, n=165
42 days54 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 42 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 7 of 19 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: division 85 · South East England, n=1,163
37%70%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer14 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
14% had one bid
The market301 lots with bid counts · division 85 · South East England
20% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid14% / 20%
Buyer: 2 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 61 of 301 lots with published bid counts.
2–336% / 33%
Buyer: 5 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 100 of 301 lots with published bid counts.
4–621% / 29%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 87 of 301 lots with published bid counts.
7+29% / 18%
Buyer: 4 of 14 lots with published bid counts. Market: 53 of 301 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer11 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
45% below estimate
The market209 lots with estimate and award · division 85 · South East England
32% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate45% / 32%
Buyer: 5 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 67 of 209 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%55% / 60%
Buyer: 6 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 125 of 209 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 8%
Buyer: 0 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 17 of 209 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 8536 monthsSME suitableNo real estimate

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 85. The comparison uses that group.

Expected competition
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 301 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet20% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 301 similar lots
1 bid20%
61 of 301 similar past lots received 1 bid (20%).
2–333%
100 of 301 similar past lots received 2–3 (33%).
4–629%
87 of 301 similar past lots received 4–6 (29%).
7+18%
53 of 301 similar past lots received 7+ (18%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No real estimate
The buyer published £0 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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.

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.

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
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
24 Apr 2026, 16:36 BST
Last source update
24 Apr 2026, 16:54 BST
Authority reference
25_26 745
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-037764
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health and social work services
Delivery area
South East (UKJ13)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068b07 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

24 Apr 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published184 days ago
    24 Apr 2026, 16:36 BST
  2. Market engagement166 days ago
    11 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    The Request for Information (RFI) documents for this opportunity are published on the Council's procurement portal: in-tendhost.co.uk/buckinghamshire-council ↗. These documents include all relevant details about the project and outline the information we are seeking from the supplier market.

    If you wish to participate in the RFI and have not yet registered, please ensure you do so via the portal in order to access the documentation. The RFI will remain open until 12:00 noon (midday) on Monday, 11th May 2026.

    For ease of access, you may copy and paste the following link into your browser:

    in-tendhost.co.uk/buckinghamshire-council ↗

    Please note that all queries relating to this RFI must be submitted via the In-Tend portal, in accordance with the instructions provided within the documents.

  3. Tender notice expected59 days ago
    26 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Today
    25 Oct 2026
  5. Contract startsin 158 days
    1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 24 Apr 2026
  1. Pipeline notice published
    24 Apr 2026, 16:36 BST
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    24 Apr 2026, 16:54 BST
    UK2

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

Buckinghamshire Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PCLJ-2677-YQXD The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, South East, HP198FFContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure