Official UK procurement notice
Social Media Screening Services
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEssex County Council (ECC) is seeking information from suppliers of social media screening services as part of an early market engagement exercise.
ECC's HR Shared Services team provides employment vetting services to over 900 schools across Essex, as well as a range of local authority and other public sector organisations.
We are reviewing the market to better understand current service offerings, pricing models, capacity, technology, reporting capabilities and supplier experience. The information gathered will help inform our future service requirements and any potential procurement activity.
Please note, this exercise does not form part of a formal procurement process and participation will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement activity.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Recruitment services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Essex County Council buys Recruitment services (CPV 7960), and who usually turns up
Essex County Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Recruitment services (CPV 7960) →
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.
Here, local means registered in East of England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside East of England.
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.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 53 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.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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 bid0% / 10%
2–333% / 15%
4–650% / 18%
7+17% / 57%
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 estimate38% / 27%
Within ±2%55% / 73%
Above estimate7% / 0%
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 7960Estimate not published
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 98 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid14%
2–324%
4–630%
7+32%
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.
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.
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
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 16 Oct 2026, 13:48 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Oct 2026, 13:48 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097975- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078993Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
16 Oct 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published5 days ago16 Oct 2026, 13:48 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 7 days28 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
If you are interested in taking part in this preliminary market engagement, please complete the following questions and send to [email protected].
Please provide responses to the following questions:
Organisation Details
- Organisation Name
- Contact Name
- Contact Email
- Website
- Service Overview
Please provide a brief overview of your social media screening service, including screening approach and how long you have provided social media screening services for (maximum 250 words).
- Platforms Included
Requirement Yes / No
Facebook
Instagram
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
TikTok
YouTube
Reddit
Threads
Other
- KCSIE Compliance
ECC is seeking to understand how suppliers interpret and deliver against the online search requirements set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidelines.
Please answer the following, with a Yes/No, providing further detail where relevant.
Does your service include searches of internet search engines (e.g. Google, Bing or equivalent)?
Is this search automated or manually undertaken?
If search engine checks are not currently included, are there plans to introduce this functionality?
Please provide any additional information on how your organisation ensures compliance with the requirements of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).
(This can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publicati… ↗)
- Volumes & Capacity
Please indicate annual volumes managed, maximum annual capacity and typical turnaround times.
- Pricing Model
Please provide an overview of your pricing structure, including:
- Cost per check.
- Volume discounts.
- Any implementation, licence, or annual fees.
- Public Sector Experience & Reference
Please confirm experience of delivering social media screening services to other public sectors e.g. Schools, MAT’s, Local Authorities, NHS, Police or other public sector organisations.
Please provide details of at least one current customer operating at a similar scale to ECC and briefly describe:
- Customer organisation
- Services provided
- Screening volumes
- Length of relationship
- Contact name and email address
- Reporting
Please describe the reports produced as part of your social media screening service, including:
- The format of the report provided to customers.
- How findings are categorised and presented.
- Whether screenshots or supporting evidence are included.
- How audit trails and decision-making are recorded.
- Any management information, dashboard or volume reporting available.
- How protected characteristics are managed within reporting.
Please provide a sample report where available.
- Compliance and Information Security
Please briefly describe how your organisation ensures compliance with relevant data protection and information security requirements when delivering social media screening services.
Please include details of any relevant certifications such as ICO registration, Cyber Essentials, & ISO 27000.
- Additional Information
Please provide any information you believe would help us understand your solution, approach, and value proposition.
- Supplier Demonstrations
Please indicate whether you would be willing to participate in a short supplier demonstration and discussion as part of this market engagement exercise.
Yes / No
- Register your interest
Should ECC proceed with a procurement exercise, would you like to receive the Request for Quotation (RFQ)?
Yes / No
- Contract startsin 161 days1 Apr 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published16 Oct 2026, 13:48 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