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HIV Community Services

Somerset County Council

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

03 Sep 2026 at 16:06

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Somerset Council is planning a targeted HIV community services contract in Somerset. The service will provide community outreach and digital interventions to increase HIV awareness, testing and access to PrEP among people at highest risk and underserved populations, informed by the Somerset HIV Needs Assessment and the five groups identified in England’s HIV Action Plan 2025–2030. It will include condoms and point-of-care HIV testing in specific circumstances, plus time-limited support for people newly diagnosed with HIV and people living with HIV who have an identified need. Providers will also deliver training for adults’ services to improve HIV awareness and reduce stigma and access barriers. Delivery will involve partnership with specialist integrated sexual health and HIV treatment services. The procurement is for health and social work services in Somerset.

This is at the planning and market-engagement stage, not a call for competition, and responses will not be evaluated. Somerset Council expects to identify market interest before deciding whether to procure. Expressions of interest, supported by examples of similar contracts, were requested for 18 September 2026; the engagement milestone is recorded as due by the end of that day. The council anticipates a subsequent notice on 23 October 2026. The planned contract period is 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029. The potential service value is stated as a maximum of £70,000 per year; the estimated total is £140,000 excluding VAT and £168,000 including VAT. One lot is planned, under the light-touch regime, with a two-year term.

The work is suited to organisations experienced in HIV prevention, sexual-health outreach and support for underserved or higher-risk populations, including voluntary, community and social enterprises and small businesses. Relevant providers should be able to combine face-to-face community engagement with digital interventions, targeted HIV testing, condom distribution and promotion of PrEP and wider sexual-health services. They should also be capable of providing time-limited support alongside HIV treatment services, with secondary prevention as the purpose, and of delivering training for professionals working with adults. Somerset Council is seeking evidence of successfully delivering comparable services at a similar scale and in a similar environment, so organisations should prepare concise contract examples showing the customer, scope, value and delivery dates before any future procurement exercise.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

HIV Community Services

Notice Description

This request for expressions of interest is issued solely for the purpose of conducting market engagement and does not constitute any commitment by the Authority to undertake any procurement exercise in the future. This exercise includes no element of supplier evaluation. No parties will be prejudiced by any response or failure to respond to this by the deadline, there is no commitment of any kind involved on either side. This request does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services and the Authority is not bound by any proposal offered. If you are interested in this potential opportunity, then please express an interest by 18.09.2026 at 12:00pm by emailing stephen.barker@somerset.gov.uk NB - ensure you provide examples of contracts which demonstrate you have successfully delivered these services on a similar scale and in a similar environment (see below). Somerset Council is looking to assess market interest in the provision of HIV community services providing targeted HIV prevention and outreach interventions for people most at risk and underserved populations. The service will include some limited provision of support to people newly diagnosed with HIV. The service will provide training aimed at those working with adults to raise awareness of HIV, reduce stigma and decrease barriers to service access. The potential value of the service is a maximum of PS70,000 per year.

Planning Information

The service will need to: • Provide community outreach and digital interventions to raise awareness of HIV and encourage uptake of HIV testing and access to PrEP for those with the highest risk of HIV and underserved populations. This will be informed by the Somerset HIV Needs Assessment and align with the 5 population groups identified in the national 'HIV Action Plan for England, 2025-2030'. • Provide condoms and point of care HIV testing in specific circumstances to people most at risk of HIV, and who are less likely to access mainstream sexual health services. • Provide time limited support to people newly diagnosed with HIV and those living with HIV with an identified need. This should be in conjunction with the HIV treatment service with the primary purpose of secondary prevention. • Working with commissioners and the Somerset Sexual and Reproductive Health Network, to lead on the provision of training and learning opportunities, for those working with adults, to increase HIV awareness and to reduce stigma and barriers to accessing health and social care services. • Work in partnership with the specialist integrated sexual health service and HIV treatment service to promote self-care, access to condoms, testing for HIV other sexually transmitted infections, access to PrEP and other sexual health provision available for those with a high risk of HIV and underserved populations. With reference to the requirements stated in this request for expressions of interest, please outline details below, of contracts which demonstrate you have successfully delivered these services on a similar scale and in a similar environment: Name of your organisation: Customer Brief description of contract delivered Contract Value (£) Contract Start Date Contract End Date

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f19a
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/083601-2026
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

85000000 - Health and social work services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£140,000 £100K-£500K
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
3 Sep 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
23 Oct 20262 months to go
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Apr 2027 - 31 Mar 2029 2-3 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Somerset 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
TAUNTON
Postcode
TA1 4DY
Postcode Area
Taunton
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK6 North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK62 Somerset
Delivery Location
TLK23 Somerset CC
Local Authority
Somerset
Electoral Ward
Bishop's Hull & Taunton West
Westminster Constituency
Taunton and Wellington

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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