Official UK procurement notice
South Tyneside Local Infrastructure Organisation (LIO) for the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise Sector (VCFSE) and the South Tyneside Healthnet Service
Authority: South Tyneside Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Service to be provided is a South Tyneside Local Infrastructure Organisation (LIO) for the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise Sector (VCFSE) and the South
Tyneside Healthnet Service.
The Service Provider will take the lead for the VCFSE sector by:
- Supporting local organisations to access external funding.
- Having oversight and responsibility for volunteer recruitment and support.
- Leading the development of the VCFSE, via partnerships, collaboration, and consortia.
- Being 'the voice' of the VCFSE sector and contributing to the strategic priorities with the Council and more widely as appropriate.
- Providing support for key strategic developments across South Tyneside, promoting health and social care integration but also more wider initiatives around for example education and training.
- Support the capacity of local groups and organisations to host volunteer placements,
- identifying career progression routes for volunteers into careers and further self development.
- Supporting all age developments.
The Service Provider will also provide the 'South Tyneside Healthnet' service, a local network which will be a collective voice for the people of South Tyneside to debate, influence and shape local health and wellbeing provision.
The annual value of the contract is £135,523.
Please note that this procurement is restricted to voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations only.
CPV: Other community, social and personal services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedPublished value£406,569
- Condition of participation
This procurement is restricted to voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations.
If you are not a VCFSE please do not submit a bid.
What 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).
Lot awarding rule: The award decision will be made in 2 stages. The first stage will consist of a suitability stage where the Council will focus on the Tenderers' characteristics and suitability in principle to provide the Contract requirements. Submissions will initially be assessed in respect of the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) responses. Subject to passing the PSQ assessment, the tender submissions (Tender Response Pro-forma) will be evaluated. Failure of any of the Pass/Fail sections will result in the failure of the PSQ submission, and evaluation of the tender (Tender Award Stage) will not occur. All Tenderers who pass the Suitability Stage will be eligible to have their Tender submissions (Tender Response Pro-forma) assessed at the Award Stage (stage 2). The Award Stage considers the merits of the eligible Tenders to assess which Tenderer can be appointed to the Contract (Quality Assessment). The Council only uses a criterion that is linked to the subject matter of the Contract. The Council has set the annual contract price it will pay for this service, therefore no price evaluation will be undertaken. The Award Stage assessment will be made solely on quality.
- Condition of participation
This procurement is restricted to voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations.
If you are not a VCFSE please do not submit a bid.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- 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
- 10 Nov 2025, 13:01 GMT
- Last source update
- 5 Aug 2026, 10:44 BST
- Authority reference
S6894- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-000114- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05ddadFind a Tender
- Reserved participation area
- K02000001
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 13 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 6 Feb 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
All tenders must be submitted electronically via open-uk.org ↗ Project Number #OPEN2025904.
Timeline
10 Nov 2025 → 1 Sept 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published346 days ago10 Nov 2025, 13:01 GMT
- Market engagement325 days ago1 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
South Tyneside Council is conducting a Soft Market Testing Exercise (SMTE) to seek the market's views on the delivery of Voluntary Community Faith Social Enterprise Sector (VCFSE) Sector - Infrastructure Support in South Tyneside and the continuation of Healthnet South Tyneside.
You are invited to consider the inquiries detailed in this SMTE and complete the questionnaire which can be downloaded open-uk.org/opportunities/overvi… ↗ ( Opportunity number #OPEN20251957).
You will need to register, free of charge, on the Open E-Procurement system via open-uk.org ↗ to access the questionnaire.
- Next notice expected292 days ago3 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice published290 days ago5 Jan 2026, 07:54 GMT
- Clarification questions by258 days ago6 Feb 2026, 17:00 GMT
- Submission deadline251 days ago13 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Latest notice published78 days ago5 Aug 2026, 10:44 BST
- Contract starts52 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
9 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 10 Nov 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published10 Nov 2025, 13:01 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published5 Jan 2026, 07:54 GMTUK4
- Status changed to active5 Jan 2026, 07:54 GMT
- Procurement method changed5 Jan 2026, 07:54 GMT
- Deadline published: 13 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT5 Jan 2026, 07:54 GMT
- Contract award notice published2 Jun 2026, 15:04 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete2 Jun 2026, 15:04 BST
- Contract signature expected12 Jun 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published5 Aug 2026, 10:44 BSTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-11: 1 release · 10 Nov 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inspire South TynesideSMEVCSE1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2029 | £406,569 | 2 Jun 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · Inspire South TynesideSMEVCSE
- Signed
- 5 Aug 2026
- Value
- £406,569
- Period
- 1 Sept 2026 – 31 Aug 2029
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1final-stage tenders | 1 | 1 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- INSPIRE SOUTH TYNESIDEAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications The tender pack is available free of charge via NEPO's Open E-Procurement System https://open-uk.org/ - Project Number #OPEN20252150. If you are not already registered on this e-procurement system then you can do so free of charge. All tenders must be submitted electronically via…
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender