--- title: "Soft Market Test for Special Education Needs & Disability: Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL" published: "2024-12-24" --- # Soft Market Test for Special Education Needs & Disability: Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) Buyer: LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a.json) ## Summary Leicester City Council is planning a procurement process titled "Soft Market Test for Special Education Needs & Disability: Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)." This procurement falls under the Health and Social Work Services industry category and will take place in England, United Kingdom. It is currently at the planning stage, with the engagement end date set for 17th January 2025. The primary goal is to gather insights from potential providers about the service model and specification principles for a planned service commencing on 1st July 2025. The anticipated budget for this initiative is £660,000. This tender offers a significant opportunity for businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs), to engage in shaping a critical support service for families and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Firms specialising in providing educational, health, and social care support services are well-suited to participate. The soft market test is a non-competitive process designed to assess interest and gather valuable feedback, which can help businesses understand market demands and influence the final service specification. ## Notice THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION Leicester City Council is considering commissioning a Special Educational Needs & Disability Information Advice Support (SENDIASS). This will be to provide information advice and support for those families and young people who require additional support to access education, health, and social care, due to a special educational need and disability (SEND). The service is designed to meet the statutory duties on provision of information advice and support under the Children and Families act (2014) and SENDIASS Minimum standards (2018). It is anticipated that this service would need to commence by the 1st of July 2025. As part of the commissioning process, the authority is undertaking a soft market test. This gives potential providers and other stakeholders the opportunity to express their interests and feed in their views about the potential service model and specification principles. The commissioners will use the information to appraise options and further develop the specification. This process does not constitute a formal tender or other competitive bidding process and will not result in the letting of a Contract. The authority is using this process solely to test the market to gather information and ascertain the level of interest in this particular service. There are therefore no formal criteria which we will use to judge your responses, and it is not our intention to provide any feedback. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/25c921eb-d784-438f-9c4d-c8cab8ef36f8 | | Notice type | Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Not specified | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 24 Dec 2024 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 17 Jan 2025 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £660,000 | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL | | Locality | LEICESTER | | Post town | Leicester | | Postcode | LE1 1FZ | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLF2 Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | | ITL 3 | TLF21 Leicester | | Local authority | Leicester | | Electoral ward | Castle | | Westminster constituency | Leicester South | | Delivery location | TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLH East (England), TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85000000 - Health and social work services ## Release History - 24 Dec 2024 at 10:58 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/25c921eb-d784-438f-9c4d-c8cab8ef36f8 ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/25c921eb-d784-438f-9c4d-c8cab8ef36f8 24th December 2024 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=87012537-e5c1-ef11-8133-005056b64545 Advert ## Notice URLs - http://www.leicester.gov.uk ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-4cb8bb32-c1af-451c-a3a8-ac389252236a.json.