Official UK procurement notice
Foodbank Plus 2025 · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Leicester City Council (Local council)
Leicester City Council is commissioning the provision of Foodbanks Plus. Leicester City Council is seeking a provider to deliver a community-based service offering free, independent, and accredited welfare advice alongside mental wellbeing support for residents experiencing poverty and financial hardship. The proposed Contract will be for an initial period of 2 years, commencing 05 May 2026 to 04 May 2028, with an option to extend, subject to satisfactory performance outcomes and agreement by the Authority, for 1 further period of 1 year, taking the contract term to a maximum of 3 years ending 04 May 2029.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionLeicester City Council is commissioning the provision of Foodbanks Plus.
Leicester City Council is seeking a provider to deliver a community-based service offering free, independent, and accredited welfare advice alongside mental wellbeing support for residents experiencing poverty and financial hardship. Delivered in settings such as foodbanks, the service will use a casework approach to support individuals with issues including welfare benefits, debt, housing, and low income, while promoting improved wellbeing, resilience, and access to local support networks.
The proposed Contract will be for an initial period of 2 years, commencing 05 May 2026 to 04 May 2028, with an option to extend, subject to satisfactory performance outcomes and agreement by the Authority, for 1 further period of 1 year, taking the contract term to a maximum of 3 years ending 04 May 2029. The estimated contract value is £315,000.
Further details in respect of this tender opportunity are contained within the Invitation to Tender documentation.
Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 6th March 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTender portal: www.eastmidstenders.org ↗
To express interest and submit a bid, please follow the link below: procontract.due-north.com/Advert ↗
CPV: Welfare services not delivered through residential institutions
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£315,000
- Condition of participation
Leicester City Council (“the Authority”) invites Tenders for the provision of the Foodbanks Plus: Promoting Better Mental Health Through Generalist Advice in Community Settings service.
Further details in respect of this tender opportunity are contained within the Invitation to Tender documentation pack.
Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 6th March 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTender portal: www.eastmidstenders.org ↗
To express interest and submit a bid, please follow the link below:
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 award criteria (2)
- Price: The Price aspect of this procurement is 20%
- Quality: The Quality aspect of this procurement is 80%
- Condition of participation
Leicester City Council (“the Authority”) invites Tenders for the provision of the Foodbanks Plus: Promoting Better Mental Health Through Generalist Advice in Community Settings service.
Further details in respect of this tender opportunity are contained within the Invitation to Tender documentation pack.
Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 6th March 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTender portal: www.eastmidstenders.org ↗
To express interest and submit a bid, please follow the link below:
- Price carries 20 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 2 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
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 17 Nov 2025, 14:14 GMT
- Last source update
- 6 Feb 2026, 12:49 GMT
- Authority reference
SCE0049- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-010928- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05e287Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 6 Mar 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 20 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Timeline
17 Nov 2025 → 5 May 2026 · 7 dates- Planning notice published350 days ago17 Nov 2025, 14:14 GMT
- Market engagement334 days ago2 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
Leicester City Council is carrying out a Soft Market Test to gather feedback from potential providers on the proposed Foodbank Plus service. The aim is to understand market interest, capacity, and potential delivery approaches for a model that combines welfare advice with mental wellbeing support in community settings. The feedback received will help shape the final specification, ensuring the service aligns with Leicester’s public health and poverty actions.
As part of the commissioning process, the authority is undertaking a soft market test. This gives potential providers and other stakeholders the opportunity to express their interests and feed in their views about the potential model and specification principles. The commissioners will use the information to appraise options and further develop the specification.
This process does not constitute a formal tender or other competitive bidding process and will not result in the letting of a Contract. The authority is using this process solely to test the market to gather information and ascertain the level of interest in this particular service. There are therefore no formal criteria which we will use to judge your responses and it is not our intention to provide any feedback.
- Next notice expected327 days ago9 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice published269 days ago6 Feb 2026, 12:49 GMT
- Clarification questions by255 days ago20 Feb 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Submission deadline241 days ago6 Mar 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Contract starts181 days ago5 May 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
5 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Nov 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Nov 2025, 14:14 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published6 Feb 2026, 12:49 GMTUK4
- Status changed to active6 Feb 2026, 12:49 GMT
- Procurement method changed6 Feb 2026, 12:49 GMT
- Deadline published: 6 Mar 2026, 12:00 GMT6 Feb 2026, 12:49 GMT
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Further details in respect of this tender opportunity are contained within the Invitation to Tender documentation. Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 6th March 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTender portal: https://www.eastmidstenders.org To express interest an…
- Technical specifications Further details in respect of this tender opportunity are contained within the Invitation to Tender documentation. Submissions must be received by 12:00 noon on 6th March 2026 at the very latest via the EastMidsTender portal: https://www.eastmidstenders.org To express interest an…
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender