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Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 16 Oct 2026, 12:16 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Southwark Works - employment support services

Official notice Competition analysis

Authority: London Borough of Southwark (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Sectors: Health & Social Care (85)Community & Cultural Services (98) Delivery: London (UKI44)
Planned pipeline value£1,948,860pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 16 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 2 yrs 9 moends 31 Mar 2030 · up to 31 Mar 2031 with extensions · starts 1 Jul 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Provision of employment support service for Southwark residents who meet priority criteria.

This is a preliminary market engagement notice please see engagement section for further details.

CPV: Other community, social and personal services · Social work and related services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 2 yrs 9 moSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Jul 2027 – 31 Mar 2030 (2 yrs 9 mo) · up to 31 Mar 2031 with extensions
Delivery: LondonEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible
Extensions: Extension options published
85300000 Social work and related services98000000 Other community, social and personal services

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How London Borough of Southwark buys Social work and related services (CPV 8530), and who usually turns up

London Borough of Southwark’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: Social work and related services (CPV 8530) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLondon Borough of Southwark · division 85
The marketSocial work and related services (CPV 8530) · Greater London
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: 5 of 18 known-size awards · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London, n=49
28%47%

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.

Here, local means registered in Greater London.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 25 of 26 known-location awards · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London, n=86
96%64%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 decided notices · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London, n=17
321 days62 days

Half of these awards were announced within 321 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 11 of 16 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8530 · Greater London, n=67
69%57%

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 buyer16 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
13% had one bid
The market36 lots with bid counts · CPV 8530 · Greater London
22% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid13% / 22%
Buyer: 2 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
2–313% / 28%
Buyer: 2 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
4–638% / 33%
Buyer: 6 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 12 of 36 lots with published bid counts.
7+38% / 17%
Buyer: 6 of 16 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 36 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 buyer12 lots with estimate and award · all categories
42% below estimate
The market18 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8530 · Greater London
39% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate42% / 39%
Buyer: 5 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 7 of 18 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%42% / 56%
Buyer: 5 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 10 of 18 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate17% / 6%
Buyer: 2 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 18 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 853033 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£1.9m
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 36 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet22% single-bid risk
Past bids on 36 similar lots
1 bid22%
8 of 36 similar past lots received 1 bid (22%).
2–328%
10 of 36 similar past lots received 2–3 (28%).
4–633%
12 of 36 similar past lots received 4–6 (33%).
7+17%
6 of 36 similar past lots received 7+ (17%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3.5 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 model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.9m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Bede House AssociationEarlier contractDA and VAWG Support Service for Southwarknotice published Apr 2026—£8.4mMatched as the earlier contract

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
16 Oct 2026, 12:16 BST
Last source update
16 Oct 2026, 12:16 BST
Authority reference
DN832889
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097899
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Other community, social and personal servicesSocial work and related services
Delivery area
London (UKI44)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07896c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

16 Oct 2026 → 1 Jul 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published4 days ago
    16 Oct 2026, 12:16 BST
  2. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  3. Market engagementin 17 days
    5 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Proposed Procurement Approach

    The council anticipates using a one-stage Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023. This will include:

    • Conditions of Participation (selection stage)
    • Full tender stage with detailed technical and commercial evaluation

    The council intends to undertake a supplier briefing session on 5 November 2026; 10 - 11am

    All suppliers will receive the same core information. Insights gathered will be anonymised and used solely to inform the procurement design.

    How to Participate

    Suppliers interested in participating in Preliminary Market Engagement should register their interest via:

    forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

  4. Tender notice expectedin 28 days
    16 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 254 days
    1 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    16 Oct 2026, 12:16 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

London Borough of Southwark

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PXTW-7647-VDLV 160 Tooley Street, London, London, SE1 2QHContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure