--- title: "Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment placement framework for children-in-care" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL" published: "2025-11-24" --- # Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment placement framework for children-in-care Buyer: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde.json) ## Summary Nottinghamshire County Council is currently in the planning stage of a procurement process titled "Soft Market Testing - Nottinghamshire County Council Assessment placement framework for children-in-care." This initiative is tagged under the health and social work services industry category, specifically aiming to enhance assessment placements for children-in-care. Set in the East Midlands, United Kingdom, the council intends to engage with market providers until the engagement end date on 12 December 2025. This soft market test, led by the council's Children's Placement and Commissioning team, seeks to explore possibilities for developing a future framework to support emergency and planned assessment provisions. This opportunity is ideal for businesses within the health and social care sector, particularly those specialising in care and management for children. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) are encouraged to participate as the council values insights that can shape future commissioning strategies. Engaging in this market testing exercise could provide these businesses with the chance to influence the framework and potentially play a significant role in the council's long-term planning efforts. Businesses with innovative solutions and an interest in addressing the challenges within this sector will find this an excellent opportunity for growth and partnership development with Nottinghamshire County Council. ## Notice Nottinghamshire County Council's Children's Placement and Commissioning team are conducting a soft market test exercise to explore the possibility of developing a framework to support assessment placements for children-in-care. This exercise is designed to gather insights from providers about capacity, appetite, challenges, and innovative approaches to emergency and planned assessment provisions to support the long-term home finding process. It is also an opportunity to shape future commissioning strategies with Nottinghamshire County Council. Your feedback will help us better understand market conditions, refine our commissioning strategy, and ensure that any potential future framework is informed by provider experience. We value your input and expertise in the market, and welcome open and honest conversations throughout the process. We will share a summary of our findings with all participants, which of course will be anonymised. Following this, we may hold a further provider forum if required. To reiterate, this is not a procurement exercise but rather a data gathering exercise. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2051c8da-ba2a-4d29-a053-346601560ca8 | | 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 Nov 2025 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 12 Dec 2025 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | 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 | NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL | | Locality | NOTTINGHAMSHIRE | | Post town | Nottingham | | Postcode | NG2 7QP | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLF1 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | | ITL 3 | TLF16 South Nottinghamshire | | Local authority | Rushcliffe | | Electoral ward | Trent Bridge | | Westminster constituency | Rushcliffe | | Delivery location | TLF East Midlands (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85000000 - Health and social work services ## Release History - 24 Nov 2025 at 11:39 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2051c8da-ba2a-4d29-a053-346601560ca8 ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2051c8da-ba2a-4d29-a053-346601560ca8 24th November 2025 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=87d3f27b-21c9-f011-813a-005056b64545 Advert ## Notice URLs - http://www.nottinghamshire.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-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e19ef8f7-5e73-4b28-8a13-5b026a61cdde.json.