Official UK procurement notice
Supporting Stability and Sufficiency of children in care placements
Authority: Derbyshire County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionMarket engagement event
Derbyshire County Council has over 1000 children in care. Approximately 50% of these children in care are in placements sourced through external providers, within residential, fostering and supported accommodation.
This is an opportunity for OFSTED registered providers to support in the delivery of Good and Outstanding quality, stable and local placements to the Council's Children in Care.
The Council is committed to driving a dynamic, outcomes focused, child-centred placement market, which offers good value, quality and choice. The Council also aim to ensure that the right placement is found the first time, on time, every time and to deliver statutory duties. The Council is wanting to develop partnerships that will help the Council's Commissioners and Providers to address areas of sufficiency and establish a clear and
strategic sense of direction for future provision within Derbyshire.
The Council would welcome responses from foster care providers, residential providers, and supported accommodation providers to work with the Council to find creative solutions for Derbyshire's Children in Care.
CPV: Health and social work services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Derbyshire County Council buys Health and social work services (CPV 85), and who usually turns up
Derbyshire County 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 and social work services (CPV 85) →
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. Small firms win less of this buyer’s work than the market’s: 10% against 47%, n=80.
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 East 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. More of this buyer’s work stays local than in this market: 87% against 48%, n=94.
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 75 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 bid18% / 18%
2–318% / 34%
4–655% / 24%
7+9% / 24%
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 estimate0% / 33%
Within ±2%86% / 59%
Above estimate14% / 8%
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 85Estimate not published
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 85. The comparison uses that group.
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 213 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid18%
2–334%
4–624%
7+24%
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnardo'sEarlier contract | CCS034 Children in Care (D2N2) - Fostering Placementsstarted Mar 2026 | CCS034 Children in Care Provision (D2N2) - Fostering Placements | — | Matched as the earlier contract |
| SUNBEAM FOSTERING AGENCY LIMITEDEarlier contract | CCS034 Children in Care (D2N2) - Fostering Placementsstarted Mar 2026 | CCS034 Children in Care Provision (D2N2) - Fostering Placements | — | Matched as the earlier contract |
| COMPASS FOSTERING CENTRAL LIMITEDEarlier contract | CCS034 Children in Care (D2N2) - Fostering Placementsstarted Mar 2026 | CCS034 Children in Care Provision (D2N2) - Fostering Placements | — | Matched as the earlier contract |
| TREEHOUSE CARE FOSTERING SOLUTIONS LIMITEDEarlier contract | CCS034 Children in Care (D2N2) - Fostering Placementsstarted Mar 2026 | CCS034 Children in Care Provision (D2N2) - Fostering Placements | — | Matched as the earlier contract |
| ACTION FOR CHILDRENEarlier contract | CCS034 Children in Care (D2N2) - Fostering Placementsstarted Mar 2026 | CCS034 Children in Care Provision (D2N2) - Fostering Placements | — | Matched 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.
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
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 12 Jan 2026, 16:04 GMT
- Last source update
- 10 Feb 2026, 14:27 GMT
- Authority reference
CCS059/CCS047- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-011954- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0603fcFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
12 Jan 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published289 days ago12 Jan 2026, 16:04 GMT
- Latest notice published260 days ago10 Feb 2026, 14:27 GMT
- Market engagement226 days ago16 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
Provider Engagement event
The event will be held on Monday 16th March 2026 10am -12.30pm (commencing at 10.30am).
The event will be held at Lea Green, Main Road, Lea, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 5GJ
The event is about Supporting Stability and Sufficiency of children in care placements.
The event is only for providers who are OFSTED registered for Children within Derbyshire (and neighbouring areas).
In order to be eligible to attend the event, OFSTED registrations must either be complete now and the service in place, or for the OFSTED registration to be completed by the tender return date (estimated November 2026) at the latest (as providers without this will not be eligible to apply for the contract).
Please RSVP by 9th March 2026 to ellena.outram@derbyshire.gov.uk
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 94 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 12 Jan 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published12 Jan 2026, 16:04 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published10 Feb 2026, 14:27 GMTUK2
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 (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender