Official UK procurement notice
Innovation Accelerator for Social Care business challenges
Authority: Oxfordshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionInnovate Oxfordshire (part of Oxfordshire County Council) is proud to announce the initiation of a competitive flexible procedure (CFP) tender process, in alignment with our Local Government Accelerator - the first of its kind in the UK, with it's first Call to Action focused specifically on Adult Social Care.
The Accelerator is designed to fast-track innovation within local government by supporting the development, testing, and scaling of transformative solutions that meet real-world challenges. By fostering collaboration between Local Authorities, Innovators, and Sector Experts, the Accelerator plays a critical role in improving outcomes for residents, reducing system pressures, and enabling smarter, more sustainable service delivery.
The CFP has three stages as shown below and suppliers will be selected/deselected at each stage by reference to the evaluation criteria defined in the ITT.
Stage 1 - Participation stage
Stage 2 - Presentation and demonstration stage
Stage 3 - Proof of Concept (POC) trial
Tenderers that are short-listed to participate in the POC trial will be expected to operate their proposed solution, at their cost, for a period of 12 weeks.
The Council is not obligated to Contract any solution proposed
The Council tender documents will be published on its e-tendering portal called Proactis and hosted on the South East Business Portal found at sebp.due-north.com ↗
- How the procedure runs: There three stages of this procurement 1>An initial Participation stage 2>A Presentation and demonstration stage 3>A Proof of Concept trial. Tenders will be validated at each stage and selected/de-selected based on the published ITT evaluation criteria.
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£1,500,000
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 - Pass Fail: Pass/Fail - participation criteria Applicable to all Tenderers responses to Part 1 and also subsequent stages if they are selected
- Price: Indicative pricing This criteria will only be used for Tenderers selected to participate in Stage 2 of the CFP as defined in the ITT
- Quality - Scored (Technical): Scored criteria for Technical This will be used at Stage 1 of the CFP as identified in the ITT
- Quality - Proof of Concept (POC): Assessment of outcomes of POC trial and benefit generated This criteria will only be used for Tenderers selected to particpate in Stage 3 of the CFP as defined in the ITT
- Quality - Presentation and demonstration: This criteria will only be used for Tenderers selected to participate in Stage 2 of the CFP as defined in the ITT
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Jun 2025, 05:30 BST
- Last source update
- 28 Sept 2025, 12:06 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 18 May 2026
- Authority reference
I-4258- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-060333- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-052beeFind a Tender
- How it runs
There three stages of this procurement
1>An initial Participation stage
2>A Presentation and demonstration stage
3>A Proof of Concept trial.
Tenders will be validated at each stage and selected/de-selected based on the published ITT evaluation criteria.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 24 Oct 2025, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 16 Oct 2025, 18:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The Council uses an e-tendering system called Proactis which is hosted on the South East Business Portal. It can be accessed via the following link South East Business Portal.
All of the documentation and communications for this opportunity will be/has been issued via this e-tendering Portal located under reference DN775676. Please use the messaging functionality within the Portal to raise any clarification question(s) regarding this ITT
To use the portal Tenderers must be registered on the Portal. If not registered this is a simple process that can be undertaken from the landing page of the above site
Timeline
4 Jun 2025 → 1 Jun 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published4 Jun 2025, 05:30 BST
- Market engagementmet8 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
The Council will publish all details pertaining to this opportunity through its e-tendering portal called Proactis which is hosted at the following address sebp.due-north.com ↗ The reference for this opportunity is DN775676. See Contact details for any enquiries related to this opportunity.
The Council has held a supplier webinar on 16th July 2025 at which suppliers who had expressed an interest were invited. Two follow up sessions at which suppliers could ask questions were arranged on 17th and 18th of July. Further sessions are planned in August 2025.
As previously indicated this will be a multi stage opportunity and suppliers initial submissions will be assessed against participating criteria issued with the ITT documentation.
Suppliers that were successful as part of this qualifying stage will be asked to participate in presentations and demonstrations which will also be evaluated.
A small cohort of suppliers who have successfully been evaluated at earlier stages will then be asked to trial the solution they have proposed in an operational environment. The Council may chose to limit the number of suppliers who are invited to trial. This will be dependant on the interest shown by suppliers to this initiative.
A final selection of the suppliers solutions will then be undertaken and contracts awarded to a supplier or suppliers that have met the success criteria for the operational trials.
Full details of each stage along with the evaluation criteria will be published to bidders that have been successful in each of the earlier stages.
- Tender notice published397 days ago28 Sept 2025, 12:06 BST
- Next notice expected396 days ago29 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by379 days ago16 Oct 2025, 18:00 BST
- Submission deadline371 days ago24 Oct 2025, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by165 days ago18 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts152 days ago1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
7 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 4 Jun 2025- Planned procurement notice published4 Jun 2025, 05:30 BSTUK3
- Preliminary market engagement notice published29 Jul 2025, 11:55 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Sept 2025, 10:29 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published28 Sept 2025, 12:06 BSTUK4
- Status changed to active28 Sept 2025, 12:06 BST
- Procurement method changed28 Sept 2025, 12:06 BST
- Deadline moved to 24 Oct 2025, 12:00 BST28 Sept 2025, 12:06 BST+53 days · was 1 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
Published amendments (1)
Please note that the original expression of interest date has been amended to 24/10/25. Suppliers may now express interest and submit responses up to the deadline set on the Council's e-tendering portal
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-06: 1 release · 4 Jun 2025
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- 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
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender