Official UK procurement notice
Invitation to a Preliminary Market Engagement Event - Sandwell Navigation and Community Connections Service for Older Adults
Authority: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) are currently exploring options for the future procurement of a Sandwell Navigation and Community Connections Service for Older Adults. The primary objective is to provide a highly visible, accessible and preventative service which enables older adults to remain independent, active, connected and informed within their local communities.
The service will adopt an asset and strengths-based approach, building on people's abilities, relationships and community resources to help them remain independent and connected.
This will be achieved by the provision of information, advice and navigation, wellbeing support, digital inclusion activities and opportunities to reduce loneliness and isolation. A core part of the service is to help people access existing community opportunities and services.
Anticipated features of the service:
- Be community-facing
- Be person-centred
- Be culturally responsive
- Be co-produced with older adults on a continuous basis
- Be accessible through a range of channels
- Promote self-help and independence
Eligibility Requirements
Adults aged 55 years and over who are residents of Sandwell.
This preliminary market engagement event seeks to understand supplier capabilities and challenges, gather feedback, and inform the development of the future specification of the Navigation and Community Connections Service for Older Adult.
This will take place on Wednesday 4th November at 10.30 - 12.30pm via TEAMS, for all interested organisations.
Please email rupi_deo@sandwell.gov.uk your full name, job title, organisation, email address and telephone no. for each attendee that would like to receive an online MS Teams invitation to this event.
Thank you for your interest.
CPV: Community health services · Health and social work services · Health services · Miscellaneous health services · Other community, social and personal services · Provision of services to the community · Social services · Social work and related services · Social work services · Social work services without accommodation
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council buys Health services (CPV 8510), and who usually turns up
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council’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: Health services (CPV 8510) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
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 West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
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 51 days of the bid deadline.
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.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
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.
1 bid0% / 22%
2–338% / 31%
4–631% / 24%
7+31% / 22%
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.
Below estimate22% / 50%
Within ±2%67% / 45%
Above estimate11% / 5%
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.
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 #1CPV 8531Estimate not published
This lot is listed as CPV 8531. The table above uses the notice category.
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 66 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid21%
2–324%
4–620%
7+35%
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.
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.
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.
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- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 5 Oct 2026, 15:08 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Oct 2026, 15:08 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093916- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0780f4Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
5 Oct 2026 → 1 Jul 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published23 days ago5 Oct 2026, 15:08 BST
- Market engagement7 days ago21 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
This preliminary market engagement will be held via MS Teams and will seek to understand supplier capabilities and challenges, gather feedback, and inform the development of the future specification of the Navigation and Community Connections Service for Older Adult.
The event will be held on Wednesday 4th November 10.30 - 12.30.
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 40 days8 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 244 days1 Jul 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published5 Oct 2026, 15:08 BSTUK2
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender