Find a TenderPlanned procurement
Published 27 Feb 2026, 17:05 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

The Provision of Drug & Alcohol Prescribing - Criminal Justice Services

Authority: NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust) (Central government)

Services
Planned pipeline value£750,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 1 Apr 2026from the planned procurement notice

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Health Board is commissioning an interim clinical drug and alcohol treatment service to support adults in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot who require prescribing interventions, including those within the criminal justice system. The service will deliver safe, evidence‑based opioid substitution therapy and alcohol treatment, with rapid clinical assessment and a strong emphasis on same‑day or timely prescribing to minimise risk and improve engagement. It will work as part of the wider Alliance model, integrating seamlessly with psychosocial services and supporting continuity of care from custody, court and prison into the community. The provider will be responsible for maintaining robust clinical governance, ensuring compliance with national guidelines, and collaborating closely with criminal justice partners to facilitate effective pathways, reduce harm, and support individuals' recovery goals.

CPV: Rehabilitation services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1The interim clinical drug and alcohol treatment service will deliver a comprehensive…Planned

The interim clinical drug and alcohol treatment service will deliver a comprehensive range of prescribing interventions, including stabilisation, reduction, withdrawal, detoxification, relapse prevention, and support towards recovery or abstinence, all in line with UK clinical guidelines and NICE standards. The service is designed for rapid access, aiming for same-day prescribing wherever possible and guaranteeing that waiting times from referral to treatment do not exceed 10 working days, including for those within the criminal justice system. Continuity of care is a priority, ensuring uninterrupted prescribing for individuals released from prison or court, with provision for evening, weekend, and bank holiday coverage. Clinical assessment is mandatory prior to prescribing, and the assessment will follow the individual throughout their recovery journey.

The service will support a range of criminal justice pathways, including Drug Testing on Arrest (DToA), Arrest Referral, Drug Rehabilitation Requirement (DRR), Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR), and continuity of care following release from prison. Robust clinical governance will be maintained, aligned to Public Health Wales standards, with regular audits, mandatory training, and compliance with all statutory and regulatory frameworks. The provider will work closely with criminal justice partners—such as police, probation, courts, and prison healthcare—to facilitate effective pathways, reduce harm, and support recovery goals. Performance standards include minimum KPIs of prescribing within 10 working days, same-day opioid substitution therapy (OST) availability, and seamless continuity of care for individuals released from prison.

The service will exclude individuals with significant unmanaged physical or mental health needs, pregnant women, and those over 80 years old, as these cases will be managed within Community Drug and Alcohol Team (CDAT) services.

The service must be provided within the Swansea Bay Footprint. Currently there is only one specialist provider that are able to deliver the Health Boards requirement. Additional information: This will be awarded following the Most Suitable Provider Process. The contract will be for a One Year

Duration, from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027

Delivery: Wales · The Service will be provided across the whole Swansea Bay University Health Board Footprint

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust) buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust)’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) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
The marketSocial work services (CPV 8531) · Wales (Cymru)
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 42 of 161 known-size awards · market: CPV 8531 · Wales (Cymru), n=35
26%54%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 Wales (Cymru).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 50 of 114 known-location awards · market: CPV 8531 · Wales (Cymru), n=58
44%67%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Wales (Cymru).

How long to a decision?
i

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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 24 decided notices · market: CPV 8531 · Wales (Cymru), n=23
43 days42 days

Half of these awards were announced within 43 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 137 of 189 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8531 · Wales (Cymru), n=60
72%48%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer112 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
80% had one bid
The market38 lots with bid counts · CPV 8531 · Wales (Cymru)
26% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid80% / 26%
Buyer: 90 of 112 lots with published bid counts. Market: 10 of 38 lots with published bid counts.
2–313% / 50%
Buyer: 15 of 112 lots with published bid counts. Market: 19 of 38 lots with published bid counts.
4–66% / 16%
Buyer: 7 of 112 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 38 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 8%
Buyer: 0 of 112 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 38 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer7 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
29% below estimate
The market26 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8531 · Wales (Cymru)
23% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate29% / 23%
Buyer: 2 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%57% / 77%
Buyer: 4 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 20 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate14% / 0%
Buyer: 1 of 7 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 26 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1The interim clinical drug and alcohol treatment service will deliver a comprehensive…CPV 8531Published estimate£750k
Expected competition
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. The bar shows 38 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet26% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 38 similar lots
1 bid26%
10 of 38 similar past lots received 1 bid (26%).
2–350%
19 of 38 similar past lots received 2–3 (50%).
4–616%
6 of 38 similar past lots received 4–6 (16%).
7+8%
3 of 38 similar past lots received 7+ (8%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 2 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £750k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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.

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
27 Feb 2026, 17:05 GMT
Last source update
27 Feb 2026, 17:05 GMT
Authority reference
SBU-MSPP-62330
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-018155
Classification (CPV)
Rehabilitation services
Delivery area
Wales (UKL18)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065edc Find a Tender

Publisher note: This is a Provider Selection Regime Wales (PSR Wales) intended approach notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Services (Provider Selection Regime) (Wales) Regulations 2025. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015/Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this award. This will be awarded following the Most Suitable Provider Process. The contract will be for a One Year Duration, from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027. The Decision Maker on behalf of the Health Board is Mrs Hannah Roan, Assistant Director of Planning & Partnerships - Commissioning & Sustainability. (WA Ref:162228)

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

27 Feb 2026 → 1 Apr 2026 · 2 dates
  1. Notice published237 days ago
    27 Feb 2026, 17:05 GMT
  2. Tender notice expected204 days ago
    1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust)

Contracting authorityCentral GovernmentBody governed by public lawHealth 4-5 Charnwood Court,, Heol Billingsley, Parc Nantgarw, Cardiff, UK, CF15 7QZContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.