Official UK procurement notice
COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY SERVICE
Authority: Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionCardiff and Vale University Health Board is seeking market engagement in relation to the future provision of a Community Mental Health Advocacy Service for adults aged 18 and over residing in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. The service will provide independent, confidential, rights-based advocacy to support individuals accessing mental health services, ensuring their views, wishes and rights are effectively represented. The service must be delivered across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan and operate in accordance with relevant mental health, equality and human rights legislation.
CPV: Guidance and counselling services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is seeking to engage with suitably qualified…Planned
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is seeking to engage with suitably qualified and experienced providers regarding the future provision of a Community Mental Health Advocacy Service for adults aged 18 years and over who reside within Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
The service will form part of a wider, whole-system approach to supporting individuals experiencing mental health difficulties. Its purpose will be to ensure that service users can participate meaningfully in decisions affecting their care and treatment, have their views and wishes appropriately represented, and understand and exercise their rights, particularly when they may be unable or find it difficult to advocate effectively for themselves.
The successful provider will be expected to deliver an independent, confidential and rights-based advocacy service through appropriately trained and experienced advocates. Support may include helping individuals to understand available information and options, communicate their views, participate in meetings and care-planning processes, access appropriate services, raise concerns and make informed decisions regarding their care and support.
The service will support eligible individuals accessing community-based mental health services, including those subject to Section 117 aftercare arrangements, individuals supported through the Care Programme Approach, Community Mental Health Teams, Assertive Outreach Teams, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams, and former service users seeking to re-engage with mental health services under the Mental Health (Wales) Measure 2010.
Service delivery will be required across both Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, providing equitable and accessible support for individuals living within urban, rural and diverse communities. The provider will be expected to work collaboratively with the Health Board, local authorities, mental health teams and existing advocacy and support services to promote coordinated pathways, avoid duplication and ensure that service users are directed to the most appropriate source of advocacy support.
The service must be responsive to the communication, accessibility, cultural and equality needs of the local population. Delivery arrangements should support fair access to advocacy and provide reasonable adjustments where required.
The provider will be required to maintain appropriate standards of safeguarding, confidentiality, information governance, workforce competence, quality assurance, performance monitoring and service-user involvement. The service must operate in accordance with all relevant legislation, statutory guidance and professional standards, including the Mental Health Act 1983, the Mental Health (Wales) Measure 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010.
This Prior Information Notice is intended to support early market engagement and assist the Health Board in understanding provider interest, capability and capacity to deliver the proposed service. It does not constitute a call for competition or a commitment by the Health Board to commence a formal procurement process.
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Cardiff and Vale University Health Board buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’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: Social work services (CPV 8531) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
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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 Wales (Cymru).
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.
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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 42 days of the bid deadline.
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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.
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?
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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 bid7% / 26%
2–353% / 50%
4–640% / 16%
7+0% / 8%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate36% / 22%
Within ±2%36% / 78%
Above estimate27% / 0%
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.
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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 #1Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is seeking to engage with suitably qualified…CPV 8531Published estimate£258k
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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.
1 bid26%
2–350%
4–616%
7+8%
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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.
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.
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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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside AdviceEarlier contract | Mental Health Service Users Benefits Advice Servicesnotice published Jun 2026 | — | £252k | Matched as the earlier contract |
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.
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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.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
43% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
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Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
43% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (43% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Mental Health Service Users Benefits Advice Services — held by Riverside Advice; no contract end date published.
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
- 15 Oct 2026, 09:06 BST
- Last source update
- 15 Oct 2026, 09:06 BST
- Authority reference
CAV-MSPP-(26-27) 98- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-097266- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078816Find 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. The award decision makers for this Contract will be the relevant people within the Health Board who manage the provision of care for Mental Health. The intention is to utilise the Most Suitable Provider Process. NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=171831. (WA Ref:171831)
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
15 Oct 2026 → 16 Nov 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published13 days ago15 Oct 2026, 09:06 BST
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 17 days16 Nov 2026
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
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.