Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 21 Sept 2026, 11:55 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Lancaster Farms - Therapeutic Community Plus Service

Authority: Ministry of Justice (Central government)

ServicesOpen procedureAbove thresholdSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline value£332,913pipeline notice, not a live tender · 1 value update
Tender notice expected 30 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yr 9 moends 1 Oct 2028 · starts 4 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

The Authority intends to procure the provision of a Therapeutic Community Plus (TC+) service at HMP Lancaster Farms as part of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway. The service will provide a specialist residential therapeutic treatment programme for men with mild to moderate learning disabilities who present with complex psychological and emotional needs associated with offending behaviour. The service will operate within a 12 to 14 bed residential therapeutic community and be delivered in partnership with HMPPS and other relevant healthcare providers.

The successful provider will be required to deliver specialist clinical services in accordance with the accredited TC+ programme manuals and standards approved by the Correctional Services Advice and Accreditation Panel (CSAAP). The service will include the provision of suitably qualified clinical professionals, including a Clinical Lead Psychotherapist (or equivalent modality), Learning Disability Specialist, and access to Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Creative Therapy services as required to meet participant needs.

The provider will be responsible for delivering therapeutic interventions, supporting assessment and treatment activities, contributing to service governance, collecting and reporting service performance data, maintaining appropriate clinical oversight, and working collaboratively with HMPPS, probation services, mental health providers and other relevant stakeholders to support pathway progression and rehabilitation outcomes.

The service will be delivered at HMP Lancaster Farms and operate in accordance with the OPD Pathway's strategic objectives to reduce reoffending, improve psychological wellbeing and relational outcomes, support staff capability, and deliver effective and high-quality treatment services.

*The contract start date is currently subject to a number of operational and implementation dependencies and is therefore yet to be confirmed. However, the Authority intends to progress the procurement at pace with a view to commencing the contract as soon as practicable.

Suppliers who have the capability and experience to deliver the services outlined are invited to register their interest by contacting the Offender Welfare mailbox at MoJProcurement.OffenderWelfare by 1st October 2pm.

Please note that this market engagement exercise does not commit the Authority to proceed with a procurement and no contractual commitment arises from participation in this excercise.

CPV: Health services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 1 yr 9 moSMEVCSE
Contract period: 4 Jan 2027 – 1 Oct 2028 (1 yr 9 mo)
Delivery: UK, North WestEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Ministry of Justice buys Health services (CPV 8510), and who usually turns up

Ministry of Justice’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) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerMinistry of Justice · division 85
The marketHealth services (CPV 8510) · North West England
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 2 of 4 known-size awards · market: CPV 8510 · North West England, n=361
2 of 434%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
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 North West England.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no winner locations published · market: CPV 8510 · North West England, n=529
—65%

No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 8510 · North West England, n=20
—59 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 59 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 2 of 6 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8510 · North West England, n=373
33%76%

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?

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer44 lots with bid counts · all categories
7% had one bid
The market65 lots with bid counts · CPV 8510 · North West England
14% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid7% / 14%
Buyer: 3 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 65 lots with published bid counts.
2–357% / 32%
Buyer: 25 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 21 of 65 lots with published bid counts.
4–623% / 31%
Buyer: 10 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 20 of 65 lots with published bid counts.
7+14% / 23%
Buyer: 6 of 44 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 65 lots with published bid counts.

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer27 lots with estimate and award · all categories
56% below estimate
The market49 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8510 · North West England
43% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate56% / 43%
Buyer: 15 of 27 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 21 of 49 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%30% / 47%
Buyer: 8 of 27 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 23 of 49 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate15% / 10%
Buyer: 4 of 27 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 49 lots with an estimate and award.
2

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.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 851021 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£333k
Expected competition
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 65 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 65 similar lots
1 bid14%
9 of 65 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–332%
21 of 65 similar past lots received 2–3 (32%).
4–631%
20 of 65 similar past lots received 4–6 (31%).
7+23%
15 of 65 similar past lots received 7+ (23%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 bids.
Commercial price forecast
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.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £333k, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

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.

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.

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
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
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
21 Sept 2026, 11:55 BST
Last source update
21 Sept 2026, 21:51 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-089385
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Health services
Delivery area
UKNorth West (UKD44)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077644 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

21 Sept 2026 → 4 Jan 2027 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published37 days ago
    21 Sept 2026, 11:55 BST
  2. Market engagement26 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST

    If your organisation believes it has the capability, capacity, and relevant experience to deliver this requirement, please express your interest by contacting the Offender Welfare mailbox at MoJProcurement.OffenderWelfare

  3. Today
    28 Oct 2026
  4. Tender notice expectedin 33 days
    30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  5. Contract startsin 67 days
    4 Jan 2027

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 21 Sept 2026
  1. Pipeline notice published
    21 Sept 2026, 11:55 BST
    UK1
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    21 Sept 2026, 21:51 BST
    UK2

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

Ministry of Justice

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDNN-2773-HVYN 102 Petty France, London, London, SW1H 9AJContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure