Official UK procurement notice
Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment placement framework for children-in-care
Authority: Nottinghamshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNottinghamshire County Council's Children's Placement and Commissioning team are conducting a soft market test exercise to explore the possibility of developing a framework to support assessment placements for children-in-care.
This exercise is designed to gather insights from providers about capacity, appetite, challenges, and innovative approaches to emergency and planned assessment provisions to support the long-term home finding process. It is also an opportunity to shape future commissioning strategies with Nottinghamshire County Council.
CPV: Health and social work services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Nottinghamshire County Council buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), and who usually turns up
Nottinghamshire 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: Health and social work services (CPV 85) →
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 Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in East Midlands. More of this buyer’s work stays local than in this market: 87% against 63%, n=45.
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 56 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 bid39% / 18%
2–336% / 35%
4–611% / 24%
7+14% / 22%
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 estimate11% / 29%
Within ±2%89% / 63%
Above estimate0% / 7%
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 #1Estimate 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 278 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid18%
2–335%
4–624%
7+22%
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
- 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 Nov 2025, 10:35 GMT
- Last source update
- 24 Nov 2025, 10:35 GMT
- Authority reference
DN798414- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-076344- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e70fFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
24 Nov 2025 → 1 Sept 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published330 days ago24 Nov 2025, 10:35 GMT
- Market engagement311 days ago12 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
Provider feedback will help us better understand market conditions, refine our commissioning strategy, and ensure that any potential future framework is informed by provider experience. We value your input and expertise in the market, and welcome open and honest conversations throughout the process. We will share a summary of our findings with all participants, which of course will be anonymised. Following this, we may hold a further provider forum if required.
To reiterate, this is not a procurement exercise but rather a data gathering exercise.
The Soft Market Testing exercise is being carried out on www.eastmidstenders.org ↗ - We kindly ask all providers to complete the response form attached to the market engagement exercise on the portal, and submit their responses by Friday 12th December 2025.
Your input is essential in helping us shape a responsive and sustainable emergency and assessment placement framework. Timely submissions will ensure your views are considered as part of our strategic planning and next steps.
- Contract starts49 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Nov 2025, 10:35 GMTUK2
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