Official UK procurement notice
Student Counselling Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Ulster University (Education)
Ulster University is seeking tender responses for a contract to procure an external student counselling provider to supplement existing sources of internal wellbeing, mental health, disability and financial support to students through our Student Wellbeing teams across our campuses. Ulster University’s Student Wellbeing team does not provide therapeutic counselling ‘in-house’ so has engaged an external counselling provider to facilitate this part of the service offering since 2013. Access to the counselling service shall be seamless for UU students. When a UU student accesses Student Wellbeing for counselling, staff will triage the student to identify if this is the most appropriate intervention; if this is identified as the most appropriate intervention, a seamless referral system for Student Wellbeing staff shall form part of this contract.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionUlster University is seeking tender responses for a contract to procure an external student counselling provider to supplement existing sources of internal wellbeing, mental health, disability and financial support to students through our Student Wellbeing teams across our campuses.
Ulster University’s Student Wellbeing team does not provide therapeutic counselling ‘in-house’ so has engaged an external counselling provider to facilitate this part of the service offering since 2013. While delivered by an external provider, the University requires the counselling service as part of the suite of services that students can avail of to enhance their mental health and wellbeing. Access to the counselling service shall be seamless for UU students. When a UU student accesses Student Wellbeing for counselling, staff will triage the student to identify if this is the most appropriate intervention; if this is identified as the most appropriate intervention, a seamless referral system for Student Wellbeing staff shall form part of this contract.
Ulster University has almost 30,000 registered students across a broad demographic of ‘Home fee paying’ students from across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as students from Great Britain, other EU countries, and international students.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Jul 2028, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Counselling services · Guidance and counselling services
Open work like this
This notice no longer takes bids · live search, filters set
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£1,200,000
What it takes to wini
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Quality Submission - Questions QS-01 - QS-05: 60%
- Commercial Submission: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
- Quality Submission - Questions QS-01 - QS-05
- Commercial Submission
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- 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
- Yes · next expected 1 Jul 2028
- First published
- 1 May 2026, 14:51 BST
- Last source update
- 23 Sept 2026, 12:08 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 25 Nov 2026
- Authority reference
CfT_6722895- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-090076- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06907fFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 27 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 19 Oct 2026, 15:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
etendersni.gov.uk ↗ (CfT_6722895)
Timeline
1 May 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 8 dates- Planning notice published195 days ago1 May 2026, 14:51 BST
- Market engagement168 days ago28 May 2026, 23:59 BST
The purpose of this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice (PME) and Request for Information (RFI) is to invite potential Service Providers to express an interest and provide information to assist with the procurement and development of a specification for Counselling Services at Ulster University.
The procurement route, duration and type of contract(s) shall be determined following this preliminary market consultation and engagement with market participants. It is this PME which will help to inform the University's strategy for this contract.
It is important to note that this PME/RFI is not a call for competition, a pre-qualification questionnaire, part of any pre-qualification/selection process or a current tender opportunity. Potential providers will need to express an interest in any future tender opportunity once a Tender Notice is published.
This RFI is intended as an awareness, communication, and information gathering exercise. An
expression of interest is no indication of a commitment to participate in the RFI process, nor
does it infer any preferential or special status on those individuals and organisations who
express an interest in the RFI exercise.
The RFI Questionnaire can be accessed by registering with eTendersNI (www.etendersni.gov.uk ↗) and searching for the relevant CfT_6522356.
- Next notice expected134 days ago1 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published50 days ago23 Sept 2026, 12:08 BST
- Clarification questions by24 days ago19 Oct 2026, 15:00 BST
- Submission deadline16 days ago27 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT
- Today13 Nov 2026
- Award decision expected byin 12 days25 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 48 days1 Jan 2027
Notice history
6 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 1 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 May 2026, 14:51 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 May 2026, 15:07 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published23 Sept 2026, 12:08 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active23 Sept 2026, 12:08 BST
- Procurement method changed23 Sept 2026, 12:08 BST
- Deadline published: 27 Oct 2026, 15:00 GMT23 Sept 2026, 12:08 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender