Official UK procurement notice
SPS-02366 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and Welfare Services to Scottish Central Government
Authority: Scottish Prison Service·Consortium: 4 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSPS is leading a collaborative procurement on behalf of approximately 40 Scottish public sector organisations (Collaborative Partners), representing a combined workforce of approximately 34,000 employees, to secure the provision of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
The Services are intended to support employees by providing access to confidential advice, guidance and supportive interventions to assist with personal and work-related issues that may impact health, wellbeing, attendance or performance.
The required Services include, but are not limited to:
-Telephone counselling and emotional support services;
-Information, advice and signposting services;
-Support and advice for carers;
-Management support services, including consultation and guidance for managers;
-Structured counselling interventions, delivered through face-to-face, telephone and digital channels as appropriate;
-Referral arrangements to specialist support services where required; and
-Trauma support services, including access to a dedicated trauma helpline and specialist post-traumatic incident support for employees affected by actual or potential exposure to traumatic events.
In addition, there is a requirement to provide Welfare Services to a number of the Collaborative Partners. The
Welfare Service shall include crisis intervention, welfare support services (including home visits where appropriate), advocacy services, and support in facilitating meetings on behalf of individuals where required.
The Welfare Service is intended to provide both direct support to employees experiencing personal, health, wellbeing or workplace difficulties and management information reporting to Human Resources representatives, in accordance with agreed governance arrangements and applicable confidentiality requirements.
The Services are expected to support the health, wellbeing and resilience of employees, whilst providing Collaborative Partners with access to appropriate management information to inform organisational wellbeing initiatives and service evaluation.
CPV: Welfare services not delivered through residential institutions
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1The SPS will commence this procurement process in good faith and with the intention of…Planned
The SPS will commence this procurement process in good faith and with the intention of awarding a framework. Following publication of the Contract Notice, an Invitation to Tender (ITT) including the Single Procurement Document (Scotland) (SPD) will be published by SPS and will be made available to bidders on Public Contract Scotland-Tender (PCS-T). Tender responses will then be evaluated by the SPS in accordance with the ITT
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Scottish Prison Service buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Scottish Prison Service’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 services (CPV 8531) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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 Scotland.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Scotland.
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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 50 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.
The market share is a minimum: 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?
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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 bid10% / 38%
2–338% / 34%
4–633% / 17%
7+19% / 11%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate31%
Within ±2%50%
Above estimate19%
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.
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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 #1The SPS will commence this procurement process in good faith and with the intention of…CPV 8531Estimate not published
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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 47 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid38%
2–334%
4–617%
7+11%
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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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optima Health UK LtdEarlier contract | 02020 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and Welfare Services to Scottish Central Governmentnotice published May 2023 | — | — | Matched 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.
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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
89% title match.
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.
89% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (89% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
02020 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and Welfare Services to Scottish Central Government — held by Optima Health UK Ltd; no contract end date published.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 14 Oct 2026, 16:14 BST
- Last source update
- 14 Oct 2026, 16:14 BST
- Authority reference
SPS-02366- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097178- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0787e9Find a Tender
Publisher note: The Purchasing Authority is acting on behalf of the following organisations: The Scottish Prison Service is contracting for itself AND on behalf of other contracting authorities as detailed below The Scottish Ministers (including Agencies), Scottish Non-Departmental Public Bodies, offices in the Scottish Administration which are not ministerial offices, cross-border public authorities within the meaning of section 88(5) of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scotland Office, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, special health boards, Forestry Commission, Scottish Futures Trust, Student Loans Company Ltd, the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, Business Stream Ltd, any public body established by or under the Scotland Act 1998 or any Act of the Scottish Parliament, any association of or formed by one or more of the above, bodies financed wholly or mainly by one or more of the above, bodies subject to management supervision by one or more of the above and bodies more than half of the board of directors or members of which, or, in the case of a group of individuals, more than half of those individuals, being appointed by one or more of the above. NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=841127. (SC Ref:841127)
How it was run
Official noticeTender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/esop/pts-host/public/pts/web/login.html ↗
- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
14 Oct 2026 → 14 Dec 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published6 days ago14 Oct 2026, 16:14 BST
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 54 days14 Dec 2026
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
4 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal ServiceContracting authority
- Scottish Courts and Tribunals ServiceContracting authority
- Scottish GovernmentContracting authority
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.