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Coproduction Services in Essex

Essex County Council

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Tender

21 Jul 2026 at 16:14

UK4 - Tender Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Essex County Council is procuring a co-production and engagement service for Adult Social Care in Essex. The service will combine existing arrangements into one coordinated model supporting adults, carers and people with lived experience. It will provide locality networks, a lived experience forum and wider engagement activity; capture insight for policy, commissioning and service improvement; improve participation by seldom-heard groups; and embed co-production in Adult Social Care governance and decision-making. This is a social services opportunity, with related social research and community health elements. Delivery is across Essex. The requirement is intended to create a consistent, person-centred and inclusive approach to engagement, strengthening the influence of lived experience on Adult Social Care design and service improvement.

The procurement has reached tender: Essex County Council invited offers through an open procedure, with electronic submission allowed. Clarification questions were due by 5 August 2026 at 12:00:59 and tenders by 18 August 2026 at 12:00:59. The contract is planned from 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2029, with two possible one-year extensions, giving a maximum end date of 31 March 2031. The single lot has an estimated value of £966,000 excluding VAT (£1,159,200 including VAT), including the optional extensions; each extension is valued at £223,000 excluding VAT. Evaluation is 60% technical quality, 10% social value and 30% price. The award decision was due by 16 October 2026.

This opportunity suits organisations experienced in co-production, engagement, social care, lived-experience work and inclusive service design, including small and medium-sized providers with relevant subject-matter expertise and delivery capacity. Suppliers should be able to engage adults, carers and seldom-heard groups, run networks and forums, gather and apply insight, and support governance and decision-making. Bidders must meet requirements covering safeguarding, safe recruitment, training, equality and diversity, equitable access and representation, information governance, modern slavery, environmental management, health and safety and data protection. They must hold or obtain employer’s liability insurance of £5 million and public liability insurance of £10 million. Providers relying on subcontractors need processes to check their compliance. TUPE is considered applicable, and standard electronic ordering and invoicing requirements apply.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Coproduction Services in Essex

Notice Description

Essex County Council (the Authority) is seeking to procure a co-production and engagement service to support Adult Social Care (ASC). The contract will bring together existing co-production services into a single, unified model, providing a coordinated approach to co-production and engagement across Essex. The service will operate within the context of the Authority's statutory duties under the Care Act 2014, and its strategic commitment to person-centred, inclusive service design. Objectives The primary objective of the contract is to deliver an integrated co-production model that: * Maintains and strengthens engagement with adults, carers, and people with lived experience * Provides structured mechanisms, including locality networks, a lived experience forum, and engagement activities * Captures and utilises insight to inform policy, commissioning, and service improvement * Expands participation and improves representation, including seldom-heard groups * Supports the embedding of co-production within ASC governance, assurance, and decision-making processes The overall aim is to ensure a coherent, consistent and impactful approach to co-production, strengthening the influence of lived experience across Adult Social Care. Essex County Council is using the Open procurement system to manage this procurement process. Suppliers are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with the platform and its functionality before participating in this tender. Guidance and training materials can be accessed via the following link: Open Training: https://www.open-hub.org/how-to-guides/ Please note that all clarification questions and requests for additional information must be submitted through the formal clarification function within the Open system. Essex County Council will not accept or respond to clarification requests submitted via email or any other communication channel. All responses will be issued through the Open system to ensure transparency and equal treatment of all bidders. For clarification, the published contract notice value includes the anticipated value of the optional extension periods. For the avoidance of any further doubt, please note that Open procurement system uses ProClass to classify procurement opportunities instead of Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) contrary to the functionality in this notice. Therefore, the opportunity within the Open procurement system has been prepared using the following ProClass codes which represent the closest matches to the CPV code which this notice is based on: 111230 - Social Care

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: There are 2 contract extensions, detailed below: Extension 1 Maximum duration: 1 year and 0 month Value ex VAT: PS 223,000 Extension 2 Maximum duration: 1 year and 0 month Value ex VAT: PS 223,000

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d02b
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/068837-2026
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK4 - Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

79315000 - Social research services

85320000 - Social services

85323000 - Community health services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£966,000 £500K-£1M
Lots Value
£966,000 £500K-£1M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
21 Jul 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
18 Aug 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Dec 2026 - 31 Mar 2029 2-3 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Active
Lots Status
Active
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Essex County Council
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
CHELMSFORD
Postcode
CM1 1QH
Postcode Area
Chelmsford
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLH East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLH3 Essex
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLH36 Heart of Essex
Delivery Location
TLH3 Essex
Local Authority
Chelmsford
Electoral Ward
Moulsham and Central
Westminster Constituency
Chelmsford

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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