Official UK procurement notice
DHSC: CNO: National Breast Feeding Helpline 2026-2031
Authority: Department of Health & Social Care (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionDelivery of the National Breastfeeding Helpline, which provides breastfeeding information, guidance and applicable support via a 24-hour helpline for families across the UK.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Jan 2029, 23:59 GMT.
CPV: Call centre · Guidance services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£5,598,500
- Economic & financial standing
The Authority will require Suppliers to demonstrate sufficient legal and financial capacity, including minimum financial standing and appropriate insurance coverage.
- Technical & professional ability
The Authority will require Suppliers to obtain, or commit to obtaining prior to Contract commencement, appropriate cyber security certification.
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).
- Quality Evaluation: Price per Quality Point used, as set out in the ITT
- Economic & financial standing
The Authority will require Suppliers to demonstrate sufficient legal and financial capacity, including minimum financial standing and appropriate insurance coverage.
- Technical & professional ability
The Authority will require Suppliers to obtain, or commit to obtaining prior to Contract commencement, appropriate cyber security certification.
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
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 1 Jan 2029
- First published
- 23 May 2025, 16:08 BST
- Last source update
- 28 Oct 2026, 13:48 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 16 Jun 2026
- Authority reference
C358258- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-040093- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-052446Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 4 Jun 2026, 17:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 15 May 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tender must be submitted via esourcing portal Atamis.
The opportunity will be available on the Health Family Atamis eTendering System. You must be registered to have full access to all documents. Select this link to access and register your organisation to the Atamis system health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗ if you have not already done so. Registration is free of charge. You can search for the project by using the contract reference.
Once you have found the Opportunity, press the ‘Register Interest’ button to register your interest. This will make the project to appear on ‘My proposals and quotes’. From there you can review documents, send clarification messages, submit the response, or decline to respond, if you decide not to participate in the opportunity. For full details on the instruction to tender and terms of participations please refer to the Invitation to Tender document.
Timeline
23 May 2025 → 28 Oct 2026 · 10 dates- Planning notice published23 May 2025, 16:08 BST
- Market engagement15 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
As described in this preliminary engagement notice, DHSC is seeking potential providers who are interested in bidding for the National Breastfeeding Helpline, which will provide breastfeeding information, guidance and applicable support via a 24-hour helpline for families across the UK. Potential providers should register their interest by the date specified within this notice. Following the market engagement event, DHSC will issue follow-up questionnaires to attendees to obtain feedback on the outline specification, and the likelihood of success of the procurement.
- Next notice expected373 days ago20 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published181 days ago30 Apr 2026, 16:06 BST
- Clarification questions by166 days ago15 May 2026, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline146 days ago4 Jun 2026, 17:00 BST
- Award decision expected by134 days ago16 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent128 days ago23 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Contract starts120 days ago1 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published13h ago28 Oct 2026, 13:48 GMT
Notice history
14 events · 8 releases on Find a Tender · since 23 May 2025- Pipeline notice published23 May 2025, 16:08 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Aug 2025, 22:15 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Aug 2025, 22:17 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published30 Apr 2026, 16:06 BSTUK4
- Published value updated to £5,598,50030 Apr 2026, 16:06 BSTwas £3,144,000
- Status changed to active30 Apr 2026, 16:06 BST
- Procurement method changed30 Apr 2026, 16:06 BST
- Deadline published: 4 Jun 2026, 17:00 BST30 Apr 2026, 16:06 BST
- Tender notice published30 Apr 2026, 16:27 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published2 Jul 2026, 13:01 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete2 Jul 2026, 13:01 BST
- Contract award notice published2 Jul 2026, 13:14 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected14 Jul 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract award notice published28 Oct 2026, 13:48 GMTUK6
Published amendments (2)
Amend Reference.
The link to Health Family Atamis eTendering System is not working.
Routine re-releases (8)
- 2026-04: 2 releases · 30 Apr 2026, 30 Apr 2026
- 2025-08: 2 releases · 18 Aug 2025, 18 Aug 2025
- 2025-05: 1 release · 23 May 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Breastfeeding NetworkVCSEDHSC: OHID: National Breast Feeding Helpline 202614 Jul 2026 – 13 Apr 2029 · up to 13 Apr 2031Extensions: The contract may be extended by up to two periods of 12 months each at the Authority's discretion. · Amended: Updated number of bids received from SMEs and VCSEs · Amended: DHSC has taken the decision to withdraw this contract award notice (as originally published on 2nd July 2026) in accordance with its rights provided for within the Invitation to Tender for this procurement, and rewind to the evaluation stage. All assessed tenderer’s responses will be re-evaluated, with a view of awarding a contract to the highest ranked bidder. Following re-evaluation, should DHSC… | £4,978,957 | 23 Jun 2026 | Awarded |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8final-stage tenders | 2 | 2 | — |
Who bid
- wonThe Breastfeeding NetworkVCSE · Scotland + The Breastfeeding NetworkVCSE · Scotland · consortium
- did not winSENSEE OPERATIONS LIMITED · North West England + SENSEE OPERATIONS LIMITED · North West England · consortium
- did not winNational Childbirth Trust · Greater London + National Childbirth Trust · Greater London · consortium
- did not winEcho-U Limited · North East England + Echo-U Limited · North East England · consortium
- did not winInizio Engage · Greater London + Inizio Engage · Greater London · consortium
- did not winClearanswer Call Centre Limited · East of England + Clearanswer Call Centre Limited · East of England · consortium
- did not winFamilies and Babies · Yorkshire and the Humber + Families and BabiesVCSE · Yorkshire and the Humber · consortium
- did not winR.S.V.P. (MEDIA RESPONSE) LIMITEDSME · Greater London + R.S.V.P. (MEDIA RESPONSE) LIMITEDSME · Greater London · consortium
Bidders as named on the Procurement Act 2023 award notice. “Won” means the bidder holds an award on this notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
16 commercial parties on the notice · 2 awarded- Clearanswer Call Centre LimitedBidder / tenderer
- Clearanswer Call Centre LimitedBidder / tenderer
- Echo-U LimitedBidder / tenderer
- Echo-U LimitedBidder / tenderer
- Families and BabiesBidder / tenderer
- Families and BabiesBidder / tenderer
- Inizio EngageBidder / tenderer
- Inizio EngageBidder / tenderer
- National Childbirth TrustBidder / tenderer
- National Childbirth TrustBidder / tenderer
Show 6 more suppliers
- R.S.V.P. (MEDIA RESPONSE) LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- R.S.V.P. (MEDIA RESPONSE) LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- SENSEE OPERATIONS LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- SENSEE OPERATIONS LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- The Breastfeeding NetworkAwarded supplier
- The Breastfeeding NetworkAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (8)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- 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
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender