---
title: "Innovation Accelerator for Social Care business challenges"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-052bee"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-052bee"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-052bee.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-052bee.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Tender"
buyer: "OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2025-09-28"
---

# Innovation Accelerator for Social Care business challenges

Buyer: OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Tender  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-052bee

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## Summary

Oxfordshire County Council has initiated the "Innovation Accelerator for Social Care business challenges," a public procurement tender aimed at fostering innovation within local government, particularly addressing Adult Social Care. This process is conducted through a competitive flexible procedure (CFP) focused on IT services, including consulting, software development, and social work services. Located in the South East region of the UK, the tender invites submissions via the Proactis e-tendering portal, with a submission deadline of 24th October 2025. The procurement is currently at the tender stage, with supplier pitches and demonstrations scheduled before a 12-week trial phase, after which contracts may be awarded. The contract is valued at £1.5 million excluding VAT, with work slated to commence on 1st June 2026.

This tender offers substantial business growth potential, particularly for IT and software companies with innovative solutions for social care challenges. SMEs and VCSEs are encouraged to participate due to its suitability criteria. Businesses with strong presentation skills and the ability to demonstrate proof of concept effectively stand to gain, as the selection process evaluates quality through staged assessments, including technical merits and pricing during the different phases. Successful participation in this tender could serve as a cornerstone project for business growth and reputation enhancement in the rapidly evolving public sector innovation landscape.

## Notice

Innovate Oxfordshire (part of Oxfordshire County Council) is proud to announce the initiation of a competitive flexible procedure (CFP) tender process, in alignment with our Local Government Accelerator - the first of its kind in the UK, with it's first Call to Action focused specifically on Adult Social Care. The Accelerator is designed to fast-track innovation within local government by supporting the development, testing, and scaling of transformative solutions that meet real-world challenges. By fostering collaboration between Local Authorities, Innovators, and Sector Experts, the Accelerator plays a critical role in improving outcomes for residents, reducing system pressures, and enabling smarter, more sustainable service delivery. The CFP has three stages as shown below and suppliers will be selected/deselected at each stage by reference to the evaluation criteria defined in the ITT. Stage 1 - Participation stage Stage 2 - Presentation and demonstration stage Stage 3 - Proof of Concept (POC) trial Tenderers that are short-listed to participate in the POC trial will be expected to operate their proposed solution, at their cost, for a period of 12 weeks. The Council is not obligated to Contract any solution proposed The Council tender documents will be published on its e-tendering portal called Proactis and hosted on the South East Business Portal found at https://sebp.due-north.com/

### Planning Information

The Council will publish all details pertaining to this opportunity through its e-tendering portal called Proactis which is hosted at the following address https://sebp.due-north.com/ The reference for this opportunity is DN775676. See Contact details for any enquiries related to this opportunity.
The Council has held a supplier webinar on 16th July 2025 at which suppliers who had expressed an interest were invited. Two follow up sessions at which suppliers could ask questions were arranged on 17th and 18th of July. Further sessions are planned in August 2025.
As previously indicated this will be a multi stage opportunity and suppliers initial submissions will be assessed against participating criteria issued with the ITT documentation.
Suppliers that were successful as part of this qualifying stage will be asked to participate in presentations and demonstrations which will also be evaluated.
A small cohort of suppliers who have successfully been evaluated at earlier stages will then be asked to trial the solution they have proposed in an operational environment. The Council may chose to limit the number of suppliers who are invited to trial. This will be dependant on the interest shown by suppliers to this initiative.
A final selection of the suppliers solutions will then be undertaken and contracts awarded to a supplier or suppliers that have met the success criteria for the operational trials.
Full details of each stage along with the evaluation criteria will be published to bidders that have been successful in each of the earlier stages.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/060333-2025 |
| Notice type | UK4 - Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Competitive flexible procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning, Tender |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 28 Sep 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 24 Oct 2025 |
| Future notice date | 29 Sep 2025 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 31 May 2026 - 31 May 2029 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £1,500,000 |
| Lots value | £1,500,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Active |
| Lots status | Active |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | OXFORD |
| Post town | Oxford |
| Postcode | OX1 1ND |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ1 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire |
| ITL 3 | TLJ14 Oxfordshire CC |
| Local authority | Oxford |
| Electoral ward | Osney & St Thomas |
| Westminster constituency | Oxford West and Abingdon |
| Delivery location | TLJ14 Oxfordshire CC |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

## Release History

- 28 Sep 2025 at 11:06 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/060333-2025
- 28 Sep 2025 at 09:29 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/060332-2025
- 29 Jul 2025 at 10:55 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/043796-2025
- 4 Jun 2025 at 04:30 - Planning - UK3 - Planned Procurement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/029666-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/060333-2025
  28th September 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/060332-2025
  28th September 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/043796-2025
  29th July 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/029666-2025
  4th June 2025 - Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk
- https://sebp.due-north.com/
- 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-052bee. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-052bee.json.