Official UK procurement notice
Statutory and non-statutory Advocacy: future service planning
Authority: Manchester City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionManchester City Council is inviting organisations to participate in a Preliminary Market Engagement exercise regarding a review of statutory and non-statutory Advocacy service delivery.
Please note the following explanation of the Council’s approach to preliminary market engagement; the core principle for underpinning our approach is to ensure probity be maintained throughout the process by strict adherence to the following guidelines:
All potential suppliers are informed that they are invited to participate in soft market testing
Any information provided by the authority to a supplier participating in preliminary market engagement will be shared with all suppliers participating in the exercise.
Any information provided by a supplier participating in preliminary market engagement will be deemed as commercially sensitive and handled by the authority in such a manner as to ensure commercial confidentiality is not violated.
Any information provided by a supplier participating in preliminary market engagement will not be shared with any third party without the express permission and written consent of the participating supplier.
The preliminary market engagement exercise is to be undertaken to ascertain if the Council wishes to proceed to a competitive tender process and if so will help inform the design of any future procurement process and will assist the Council to shape their requirements to ensure that they obtain the best solution to meet their needs and that will be most attractive to the market to ensure as much competition as possible.
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If the outcome of the preliminary market engagement is such that the authority decides to go out for a competitive tender (N.B: the Council reserves the right not to do so if it so decides or to utilise other procurements routes open to it such as pre-tendered national/regional/other frameworks), then all suppliers who have participated in the preliminary market engagement will be notified of the tendering opportunity.
Participation in the preliminary market engagement does not mean that you will automatically qualify for the tender opportunity and all prospective tenders, irrespective of previous participation, will be required to register and meet the conditions of participation of the tender at that time.
Overview
Manchester City Council / Manchester Local Care Organisation is undertaking a review of its Advocacy Services arrangements in advance of the current contract ending on 30th September 2027.
Advocacy providers are invited to attend a Preliminary Market Engagement workshop via Teams (to be held at 3pm on Tuesday 20th October 2026) to discuss the matters outlined below.
To help shape and inform the structure of the workshop, attendees are asked to complete a supplementary survey via The Chest e-procurement portal, which should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
This preliminary market engagement exercise will help us gain insight on current challenges, opportunities, future demand pressures, and considerations for the development of a future Advocacy services model. This engagement exercise is open to organisations that currently provide statutory and/or non-statutory Advocacy services - Providers do not need to currently deliver services within Manchester to participate.
No decisions have been made regarding the future service delivery model at this stage, and feedback gathered through this engagement process will be considered alongside current Advocacy service performance, demand analysis, financial information, benchmarking activity, and statutory requirements before any future commissioning decisions are taken. The Council's key priority going forward is to ensure a sustainable, effective and responsive Advocacy provision, which enables positive outcomes for citizens.
CPV: Social services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Lot 1Planned
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
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 5 Oct 2026, 17:12 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Oct 2026, 17:12 BST
- Authority reference
P-1558- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078127
How it was run
- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 published dates · Europe/London- Planning notice publishedjust passed5 Oct 2026, 17:12 BST
- Market engagementin 14 days20 Oct 2026, 00:59 BST
Format of engagement A Preliminary Market Engagement workshop will take place online via Teams on Tuesday 20th October 2026 from 3-4:30PM. Please note participation in the Preliminary Market Engagement will not result in any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement process. Next more…
Steps The Council is using the e-business portal known as the Chest. Applicants will need to register their details at the following link www.the-chest.org.uk. Once registered, applicants will be emailed a log-in and password which will allow them to gain access to the documentation relating to this Preliminary Market Engagement. Interested parties should be able to demonstrate the requirements detailed in the brief published on the chest. See link below: https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=649ca9fa-d0c0-f111-813c-005056b64545&fromProjectDashboard=True To participate in the Preliminary Markey Engagement workshop, please complete our online survey, also accessible via The Chest submitting your response by 12pm of Monday 19th October 2026. Statutory and Non-Statutory Advocacy Service Planning - Preliminary Market Engagement – Fill in form https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.cloud.microsoft%2Fe%2FSZ7TdDXrR0&data=05%7C02%7Clouise.causley%40manchester.gov.uk%7C4c1f4b4c8421486cf09b08df22c7e55a%7Cb0ce7d5e81cd47fb94f7276c626b7b09%7C0%7C0%7C639267914077442160%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=aLk0kaIf6FNcNP4HNlFu4SUnDJMF2rrHAevGUQxx%2BDI%3D&reserved=0 The survey results will be used to gather information on local and national Advocacy services and the current Advocacy landscape in relation to the areas outlined above. Further information, including details of how to join the workshop, will be provided following submission of the survey. - Contract startsin 360 days1 Oct 2027, 01:00 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 Oct 2026, 17:12 BSTUK2
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