---
title: "001236 - Soft Market Testing Exercise for the Provision of a Deputy and Appointee Banking and Software Solution"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2025-03-20"
---

# 001236 - Soft Market Testing Exercise for the Provision of a Deputy and Appointee Banking and Software Solution

Buyer: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f

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## Summary

Durham County Council is in the planning stage of a public procurement process to identify potential solutions for the provision of a Deputy and Appointee banking and software solution. The industry category for this procurement falls under software packages and information systems, as well as banking and investment services. The procurement process commenced on 20th March 2025, with key market engagement sessions scheduled to conclude by 30th April 2025. The project location is the United Kingdom, specifically within the Durham region.

This tender offers significant business growth opportunities for companies specialising in financial software solutions and banking services that are suitable for both SMEs and VCSEs. Companies providing innovative and integrated systems for managing financial transactions and virtual accounts would be well-placed to compete. With the contract period starting in October 2025 and running until September 2029, this represents a substantial and attractive long-term business engagement opportunity.

## Notice

Durham County Council Deputy and Appointee Team (DAT) are exploring banking and software solutions to support the Deputy and Appointee functions of its customers. Currently, we support circa 950 customers with appointeeship or deputyship in any financial year. The DAT are responsible for managing the finances, including all daily living expenses and household bills, for individuals deemed to lack capacity to manage their financial affairs. Individual need will vary from monthly personal allowance payments to individuals who require their funds to be paid daily. For appointee cases, the DAT will access Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits and for CoP cases, this can range from investment accounts, private pensions, existing individual bank accounts and DWP benefits, and will also include property as applicable. Our current operating model is as follows: * One main bank account for Durham County Council (DCC). * All payments/income are paid into the main DCC bank account. * Support function to translate one main bank account into 950 individual virtual accounts and undertake reconciliation activity. * Software package as Client Record Management System (CRMS). * Pre-paid cards to make individual payments to customers daily, weekly, monthly. * Individual reconciliation of pre-paid card payments and transactions to individual virtual accounts. We are looking for an incorporated system for all financial transactions for our customers, reducing the duplication, interdependencies, and potential multiple impacts of the current system. Previous system ref DN742339

### Planning Information

Previous Soft Market Testing in the form of a SMT Questionnaire was completed in October 2024 (Under PCR2015) to try to identify potential market developments and available solutions for the Deputy & Appointee team to begin a review of their banking processes. As part of the next stages of this procurement activity, it is anticipated that unscored virtual demonstration sessions will be conducted with suitable suppliers as part of the market engagement prior to a procurement exercise being considered. These sessions are to take place in April 2025, should availability in-house and externally with the suitable suppliers allow.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/010338-2025 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 20 Mar 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 30 Apr 2025 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 30 Sep 2025 - 30 Sep 2029 |
| 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 | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | DURHAM |
| Post town | Durham |
| Postcode | DH1 5WB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear |
| ITL 3 | TLC41 Durham |
| Local authority | County Durham |
| Electoral ward | Framwellgate and Newton Hall |
| Westminster constituency | City of Durham |
| Delivery location | TLC North East (England) |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems
- 66 - Financial and insurance services

### Codes

- 48000000 - Software package and information systems
- 66100000 - Banking and investment services

## Release History

- 20 Mar 2025 at 11:05 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/010338-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/010338-2025
  20th March 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-h6vhtk-04ef8f. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f.json.