Statutory and non-statutory Advocacy: future service planning
Planned
Key facts
- Closing date
- Not stated by the buyer
- Buyer's estimated value
- Not stated The buyer's own estimate, not income to you.
- Contract period
- 1 Oct 2027 to 30 Sep 2030
- Procedure
- Not stated
- Notice type
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Suitable for SMEs (per buyer)
- Yes
Decision brief
Taken from the buyer's published notice (shown as written, shortened where long). Tenderpatch has not added to or interpreted it. Always read the official documents before bidding.
- How bids will be scored
- Not stated in the notice.
- Conditions of participation (what you must show)
- None published in the notice. They may be in the tender documents.
- Contract length and extensions
- 1 Oct 2027 to 30 Sep 2030.
- How to submit
- Not stated in the notice.
- Tender documents
- No document links in the notice. Use the official notice link.
New to public tenders? Plain-English guide to this page
- Framework
- An agreement that sets terms for work the buyer may order later, often from several suppliers. The value shown usually covers the whole agreement, not one job.
- Open for bids / closing date
- You must submit by the closing date and time, normally through the buyer's own online portal. Late bids are normally refused.
- Clarification questions
- A deadline for asking the buyer questions about the tender. It is earlier than the closing date.
- Conditions of participation
- What the buyer asks suppliers to show before they can be considered, such as experience, insurance or accreditations.
- Bids are scored on
- How the buyer will compare bids, usually a split between price and quality. A 60/40 split in favour of quality means the cheapest bid will not necessarily win.
- Lots
- A tender can be split into parts. You can often bid for only the lots that suit you.
- Area (ITL)
- The buyer names an official statistical area for where the work is, not a street address. Check the tender documents for the actual sites.
- UK4 and other notice codes
- Official codes for the type of notice. A "tender notice" means bids are being invited.
General explanations written by Tenderpatch, not part of this notice.
Description
Manchester City Council is inviting organisations to participate in a Preliminary Market Engagement exercise regarding a review of statutory and non-statutory Advocacy service delivery.
Please note the following explanation of the Council’s approach to preliminary market engagement; the core principle for underpinning our approach is to ensure probity be maintained throughout the process by strict adherence to the following guidelines:
All potential suppliers are informed that they are invited to participate in soft market testing
Any information provided by the authority to a supplier participating in preliminary market engagement will be shared with all suppliers participating in the exercise.
Any information provided by a supplier participating in preliminary market engagement will be deemed as commercially sensitive and handled by the authority in such a manner as to ensure commercial confidentiality is not violated.
Any information provided by a supplier participating in preliminary market engagement will not be shared with any third party without the express permission and written consent of the participating supplier.
The preliminary market engagement exercise is to be undertaken to ascertain if the Council wishes to proceed to a competitive tender process and if so will help inform the design of any future procurement process and will assist the Council to shape their requirements to ensure that they obtain the best solution to meet their needs and that will be most attractive to the market to ensure as much competition as possible.
If the outcome of the preliminary market engagement is such that the authority decides to go out for a competitive tender (N.B: the Council reserves the right not to do so if it so decides or to utilise other procurements routes open to it such as pre-tendered national/regional/other frameworks), then all suppliers who have participated in the preliminary market engagement will be notified of the tendering opportunity.
Participation in the preliminary market engagement does not mean that you will automatically qualify for the tender opportunity and all prospective tenders, irrespective of previous participation, will be required to register and meet the conditions of participation of the tender at that time.
Overview
Manchester City Council / Manchester Local Care Organisation is undertaking a review of its Advocacy Services arrangements in advance of the current contract ending on 30th September 2027.
Advocacy providers are invited to attend a Preliminary Market Engagement workshop via Teams (to be held at 3pm on Tuesday 20th October 2026) to discuss the matters outlined below.
To help shape and inform the structure of the workshop, attendees are asked to complete a supplementary survey via The Chest e-procurement portal, which should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
This preliminary market engagement exercise will help us gain insight on current challenges, opportunities, future demand pressures, and considerations for the development of a future Advocacy services model. This engagement exercise is open to organisations that currently provide statutory and/or non-statutory Advocacy services - Providers do not need to currently deliver services within Manchester to participate.
No decisions have been made regarding the future service delivery model at this stage, and feedback gathered through this engagement process will be considered alongside current Advocacy service performance, demand analysis, financial information, benchmarking activity, and statutory requirements before any future commissioning decisions are taken. The Council's key priority going forward is to ensure a sustainable, effective and responsive Advocacy provision, which enables positive outcomes for citizens.