Official UK procurement notice
SWB - Supportive Discharge Transport Service
Authority: Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (Central government)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis Tender process is being undertaken on behalf of the Black Country ICS Trusts (The Authority/Authorities) as named below:
- Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust
- The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (optional beneficiary)
A bespoke solution is required to support patients who rely on a supportive and specifically-timed transport service to co-ordinate complex discharge plans – for example, to be sure to have returned home at a specific time for a same-day social care assessment. Before the inception of a bespoke transport solutions for this patient cohort, patients were facing delays and system resource was wasted through delays in the standard patient transport offer.
By nature, this bespoke service supports those who are vulnerable, and often frail / elderly, and such a service also requires a short additional period to ensure the person is safe and well at their destination – for example, ensuring the heating is on and that they have access to food and fluids until the care agency attend.
Finally, the ability to include ad-hoc journeys e.g. travelling via a pharmacy to collect discharge medications, before collecting the person and taking them home, represents improved patient experience, reduction in risk and facilitates timely discharges, which might otherwise add hours or even days to a person’s hospital stay.
The Trust is committed to providing a high quality, patient focussed service. This specification reflects the overall requirements of the Trust’s requirements for a supportive transport service, for patients to be conveyed in appropriate vehicles and for their discharge arrangements to be reliably co-ordinated between system partners.
The initial contract period is estimated to be 01/02/2027 to 31/09/2030 (3 years) with the option to extend for up to 2 further years.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 18 Oct 2032, 23:59 BST.
CPV: Special-purpose road passenger-transport services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£250,000
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
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 Questionnaire: 70%
- Cost: 30%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical Questionnaire: Qualitative and social value questionnaire
- Cost: Cost Questionnaire
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £166,515 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust buys Special-purpose road passenger-transport services (CPV 6013), and who usually turns up
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Special-purpose road passenger-transport services (CPV 6013) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered. 33 known-location awards sit across 4 procurements, so one procurement can dominate this percentage.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 71 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?
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.
1 bid22%
2–367%
4–611%
7+0%
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.
Below estimate38%
Within ±2%38%
Above estimate25%
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.
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 6013Published estimate£250k
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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid16%
2–363%
4–617%
7+4%
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.
Based on 13 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£222k–£253k
Estimate£250k
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.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
HATS Group LtdLarge | £351m26 awards in 36m · last 2 months ago | 3 live · £145m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 15% above n=19 |
| £20m7 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 1 live · £250k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | no comparable pairs | |
Take Me Group LtdLarge | £388k9 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 4 live · £165k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | no comparable pairs |
| £339k2 awards in 36m · last 8 months ago | 2 live · £339k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | no comparable pairs | |
| £109m3 awards in 36m · last 8 months ago | None on file | no comparable pairs |
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- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 18 Oct 2032
- First published
- 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 GMT
- Last source update
- 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 14 Dec 2026
- Authority reference
C485549- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-100854- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078fd3Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
30 days from date of invoice.
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via Atamis legacy domain (health-family.force.com)- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 23 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 26 Oct 2026, 10:30 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The Contracting Authority is utilising an electronic Tendering system (“E-Tendering Portal”) to manage this procurement and communicate with Tenderers. Accordingly, there will be no hard copy documents issued to Tenderers and all communications with the Contracting Authority, including the submission of Tender responses will be conducted solely via the following link:
health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗
User Guide:
Timeline
26 Oct 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 5 dates- Tender notice publishedearlier today26 Oct 2026, 10:12 GMT
- Clarification questions byearlier today26 Oct 2026, 10:30 GMT
- Today26 Oct 2026
- Submission deadlinein 28 days23 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 49 days14 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 97 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published26 Oct 2026, 10:12 GMTUK4
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- The Dudley Group NHS Foundation TrustContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender