Official UK procurement notice
Student Assistance and Support Services
Authority: APUC Ltd (Public body)
What is being bought2 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionThe Authority was seeking Contractor(s) for the provision of student assistance and support services to the Scottish HE/FE sector (www.apuc-scot.ac.uk ↗). These services include: counselling sevices, student support helpline and online mental health and wellbeing support.
- Recurrence: 3 years - 30/04/2029.
CPV: Counselling services · Guidance and counselling services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Places
- up to 6 suppliers · 10 bids on the busiest of 2 lots (1.7 per place) · 6 appointed (full)
Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure
2 lots · no lot values published · same evaluation weights on every lotLot #1Full Student Support ServiceAwardedRenewal
This lot will combine:
- Counselling on a one-on-one basis given via SVC, telephone and in a face-to-face setting;
- Student support helpline (out of hours, 24/7 or as required) via telephone and/or online methods);
- Online mental health and wellbeing support: online peer to peer web portal, offering creative tools, courses and web-based therapy and online knowledge hub for students including, but not limited to, advice on wellbeing and self-help practises.
Lot #2Student Wellbeing ToolAwardedRenewal
Provision of online mental health and wellbeing support: online peer to peer web portal, offering creative tools, courses and web-based therapy and online knowledge hub for students including, but not limited to, advice on wellbeing and self-help practises.
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).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical: 60%
- price: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical: 60
- Price: 40
- Suitability
(LOT 1 ONLY)
Counsellors and all Service Provider Personnel attending any Institutions or interacting with students sites must have PVG Scheme Membership. This is a minimum requirement and Bidders are asked to confirm membership in their response to the Single Procurement Document (SPD);
Key Personnel to be qualified members of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapist (BACP), UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) or equivalent;
Key Personnel to be a chartered Counselling/Clinical psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and also hold registration with The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and COSCA/ Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland.
- Condition of participationno text publishedMinimum: With reference to question 4B.5 of the SPD in the qualification questionnaire, bidders must confirm they can provide the following supporting evidence prior to award: Employers (Compulsory) Liability Insurance = 5,000,000 GBP Professional Indemnity = 1,000,000 GBP Public Liabilit…
- Technical & professional ability
Tenderers must confirm they have (or have access to) the relevant supply chain management and tracking systems to ensure a resilient and sustainable supply chain. This includes confirmation that they have the systems in place to pay subcontractors through the supply chain
promptly (i.e. no later than 30 days after the invoice (or similar claim) relating to the payment is presented) and effectively, and provide
evidence when requested of:
a) their standard payment terms
b) ≥95% of all supply chain invoices being paid on time (in accordance with the terms of contract) in the last financial year.
If the bidder is unable to confirm (b) they must provide an improvement plan, signed by their Director, which improves the payment performance.
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- “Student Assistance and Support Services” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 6 suppliers, not a single contract.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · 3 years - 30/04/2029.
- First published
- 15 Dec 2025, 15:05 GMT
- Last source update
- 25 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
- Award evaluation window
- 1 Jun 2026 – …
- Authority reference
SEC1008 AP- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-090959- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f5efFind a Tender
- Performance terms
Submission of Management Information:
Following commencement of the Framework Agreement, the Contractor will provide a performance report to the Authority on a quarterly basis to include spend by Institution under the Framework Agreement for the reporting period.
Contractors must provide the information on a quarterly basis, within 10 working days following the start of each quarter. Data must be uploaded to the website:
ucsp.ac.uk ↗ using the template provided (template shall be provided during the lead-in period). The supplied template is the only format permissible and should contain Contractor name, tender reference, total net spend by institution each month. If there has been no spend for the quarter, then this will still require you to log in and record a nil spend return.
Publisher note: Economic operators may have be excluded from this competition if they were in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Suppliers should confirm they will be in a position to complete (at point of award) the following: Appendix A Form of Tender Appendix B Freedom of Information Appendix D APUC Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct (SC Ref:844036)
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 10 Jun 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission"}
- Accepted languages
- en
- Bids opened
- 1 Jun 2026, 13:00 BST
Timeline
2 Mar 2026 → 25 Sept 2026 · 4 dates- Next notice expected233 days ago2 Mar 2026
- Bids opened142 days ago1 Jun 2026, 13:00 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends133 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown10 Jun 2026, 12:00 BST
- Notice published26 days ago25 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
Notice history
6 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 29 Apr 2026- Published value updated to £800,00029 Apr 2026, 15:27 BSTwas £1,000,000
- Status changed to active29 Apr 2026, 15:27 BST
- Procurement method changed29 Apr 2026, 15:27 BST
- Deadline published: 1 Jun 2026, 12:00 BST29 Apr 2026, 15:27 BST
- Deadline moved to 10 Jun 2026, 12:00 BST25 May 2026, 10:21 BST+9 days · was 1 Jun 2026, 12:00 BST
- Status changed to complete25 Sept 2026, 12:26 BST
Published amendments (1 · 1 deadline change)
| When | What | Before | After | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | DeadlineTime limit · IV.2.2 | 1 Jun 2026 | 10 Jun 2026 | +9 d |
| — | Bid openingConditions for opening of tenders · IV.2.7 | 1 Jun 2026 | 10 Jun 2026 | +9 d |
Additional time required.
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-12: 1 release · 15 Dec 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast2 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.
Contracts
All 2 of these contracts carry the same published figure, £100,000, the framework's maximum for the whole notice, not each contract's own value. They are not eleven separate sums.
Full Student Support Service
- Signed
- 3 Aug 2026
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
Student Wellbeing Tool
- Signed
- 3 Aug 2026
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Lot | Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Full Student Support Service | 10bids · 10 electronic · 10 from abroad | 6 | — | — |
| 2 · Student Wellbeing Tool | 6bids · 6 electronic · 6 from abroad | 4 | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Stirling Sheriff CourtReview body
Framework contractors & participating bidders
6 commercial parties on the notice- Health AssuredFramework contractor
- HealthHero Solutions Limited (formerly Validium)Framework contractor
- Spectrum LifeFramework contractor
- TalkLifeFramework contractor
- TogetherallFramework contractor
- UwillFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.