Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Nov 2025, 14:03 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Neurodiversity pathway for individuals accessing the Waiting Well and WorkWell services in North Cumbria.

Authority: NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (Central government)

ServicesBelow thresholdLight touch regimeSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 10 moends 31 Oct 2026 · starts 1 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

NHS North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is managing this market engagement exercise for the provision of a Neurodiversity pathway for individuals accessing the Waiting Well and WorkWell services in North Cumbria.

The ICB is issuing this Prior Information Notice (PIN) as a Request for Information (RFI) to engage with the market and to gather information in order to gain a better understanding of both the capacity and appetite of the market in delivering the proposed services

CPV: Guidance services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 10 moSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Jan 2026 – 31 Oct 2026 (10 mo)
Delivery: North EastEligibility: 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 NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board buys Social work services (CPV 8531), and who usually turns up

NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board’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: Social work services (CPV 8531) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
The marketSocial work services (CPV 8531) · North East 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: 148 of 360 known-size awards · market: CPV 8531 · North East England, n=65
41%34%

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 East England.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 263 of 312 known-location awards · market: CPV 8531 · North East England, n=109
84%47%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered 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: 5 decided notices · market: CPV 8531 · North East England, n=23
42 days34 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 42 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 925 of 946 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8531 · North East England, n=105
98%70%

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 buyer34 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 85
41% had one bid
The market23 lots with bid counts · CPV 8531 · North East England
13% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid41% / 13%
Buyer: 14 of 34 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
2–350% / 39%
Buyer: 17 of 34 lots with published bid counts. Market: 9 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
4–69% / 22%
Buyer: 3 of 34 lots with published bid counts. Market: 5 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 26%
Buyer: 0 of 34 lots with published bid counts. Market: 6 of 23 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 buyer13 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 85
23% below estimate
The market21 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8531 · North East England
38% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate23% / 38%
Buyer: 3 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 8 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%77% / 62%
Buyer: 10 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 13 of 21 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate0% / 0%
Buyer: 0 of 13 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 21 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 853110 monthsSME suitableEstimate not published
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 23 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet13% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 23 similar lots
1 bid13%
3 of 23 similar past lots received 1 bid (13%).
2–339%
9 of 23 similar past lots received 2–3 (39%).
4–622%
5 of 23 similar past lots received 4–6 (22%).
7+26%
6 of 23 similar past lots received 7+ (26%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Together We (A community interest company in West Cumbria)Earlier contractNorth Cumbria Waiting Well Servicenotice published Jul 2025—£34kMatched as the earlier contract

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
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
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
5 Nov 2025, 14:03 GMT
Last source update
5 Nov 2025, 14:03 GMT
Authority reference
NENC069
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-071284
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Guidance services
Delivery area
North East (UKC)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05db04 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

5 Nov 2025 → 1 Jan 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published357 days ago
    5 Nov 2025, 14:03 GMT
  2. Market engagement343 days ago
    18 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT

    NHS North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is managing this market engagement exercise for the provision of Neurodiversity pathway for individuals accessing the Waiting Well and WorkWell services in North Cumbria.

    The ICB is issuing this Prior Information Notice (PIN) as a Request for Information (RFI) to engage with the market and to gather information in order to gain a better understanding of both the capacity and appetite of the market in delivering the proposed services.

    It is important to note that this PIN/RFI is not a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any future opportunity once the contract notice is published on Find a Tender Service.

    It should also be noted that this PIN/RFI invites individuals and organisations to express an interest in this RFI exercise only, and it is NOT a pre-qualification questionnaire, and is NOT part of any pre-qualification or selection process.

    This PIN/RFI is intended as an awareness, communication, and information gathering exercise. An expression of interest is no indication of a commitment to participate in the RFI process nor does it infer any preferential or special status on those individuals and organisations who express an interest in the RFI exercise.

    NENC is utilising an electronic tendering tool to manage this RFI exercise and communicate with potential providers.

    Accordingly, there will be no hard copy documents issued to potential providers and all communications with NECS, including RFI submissions, will be conducted via

    Atamis: health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗

    If you have already registered on the system (e.g. to access contracts with another Health Family organisation) then there is no need to re-register.

    If you have not already done so you should now register as a Supplier on the shared system.

    You can register here: health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗

    It is free to register on the portal and it can be accessed at any time of day providing you have a working internet connection.

    If you find that you need any advice or support in registering, please contact the Atamis helpdesk using the following details:

    Phone: 0800 9956035

    E-mail: support-health@atamis.co.uk

    Opening times 8am - 6pm

    The RFI documentation will be accessible from Wednesday 05 November 2025 and completed RFI responses must be returned by 12:00 on Tuesday 18 November 2025.

  3. Contract starts300 days ago
    1 Jan 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Nov 2025, 14:03 GMT
    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

NHS NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-NHS: QHM · GB-PPON: PMYZ-6944-BYLH PEMBERTON HOUSE COLIMA AVENUE SUNDERLAND ENTERPRISE PARK, Sunderland, North East, SR5 3XBContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure