Official UK procurement notice
Who pays? Understanding cost misalignment between the NHS and Local Government
Authority: Local Government Association
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Local Government Association (LGA) is seeking a supplier to undertake a focused policy research project exploring the interaction between NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and local authority adult social care.
Recent evidence has highlighted growing concerns about the relationship between CHC decision-making, adult social care expenditure and the incentives created by current funding arrangements. ADASS's Spring Survey 2026 found that 75% of Directors of Adult Social Services reported an increase in the number of people presenting to adult social care who were, or previously would have been, eligible for CHC, while 84% reported that Integrated Care Board (ICB) disinvestment in CHC was contributing to adult social care overspending pressures.
Research published by The King's Fund found that CHC eligibility rates have fallen significantly despite no change to the national eligibility framework, alongside substantial variation between different ICB areas.
While CHC provides the primary lens for this project, the LGA is also interested in the wider question of whether current funding and accountability arrangements across health and social care create incentives that transfer costs and risks between organisations rather than supporting whole-system decision making.
The LGA wishes to better understand:
- How these issues are playing out locally
- Whether current arrangements create misaligned incentives between organisations
- The impact on local government, the NHS, people drawing on care and support, and unpaid carers
- What reforms could improve alignment between health and social care funding and accountability.
This work will inform future LGA policy development and engagement with government, national partners and stakeholders.
CPV: Research and development services and related consultancy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£16,000
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).
Lot awarding rule: The evaluator[s] will allocate scores in accordance with the scoring scale in paragraph 12.8 of the RFQ document and the award criteria published in this document. Once the quality and price scores have been allocated, the resulting quality and price scores will be combined according to their % level for each Bidder to produce a final overall score for that Bidder. The successful Bidder will be the one that submits the highest scoring overall Quotation.
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £32,000 (twice the annual value).
Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Local Government Association buys Research and development services (CPV 73), and who usually turns up
Local Government Association’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: Research and development services (CPV 73) →
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 Greater London (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address 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 1 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% / 11%
2–314% / 20%
4–671% / 32%
7+14% / 36%
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 estimate20% / 49%
Within ±2%80% / 47%
Above estimate0% / 4%
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 73Published estimate£16k
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 73. 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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid7%
2–310%
4–654%
7+29%
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.
Based on 138 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£14k–£16k
Estimate£16k
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
Ernst and Young LLPLarge | £168m77 awards in 36m · last this month | 15 live · £25m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 8% below n=11 |
| £36m36 awards in 36m · last this month | 14 live · £71m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=7 | |
| £9.8m42 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 15 live · £4.4m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 6% below n=6 | |
| £2.9m15 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 7 live · £823k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 9% below n=5 | |
Lancaster UniversityLarge | £372k8 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 5 live · £279k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=4 |
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
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- 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 Oct 2026, 16:09 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Oct 2026, 16:09 BST
- Authority reference
UCMBNLG- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-093966- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078110Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via Panacea- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- —
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
Timeline
5 Oct 2026 → 10 Nov 2026 · 3 dates- Tender notice published21 days ago5 Oct 2026, 16:09 BST
- Today26 Oct 2026
- Submission deadlinein 7 days2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 14 days10 Nov 2026
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published5 Oct 2026, 16:09 BSTUK4
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- 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
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender