--- title: "Sight testing and dispensing of spectacles to Children and Young People (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Special Educational Settings (SES) within the West Midlands" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-059865" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-059865" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-059865.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-059865.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "NHS BIRMINGHAM AND SOLIHULL INTEGRATED CARE BOARD" published: "2025-09-11" --- # Sight testing and dispensing of spectacles to Children and Young People (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Special Educational Settings (SES) within the West Midlands Buyer: NHS BIRMINGHAM AND SOLIHULL INTEGRATED CARE BOARD Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-059865 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-059865) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-059865.json) ## Summary NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU), on behalf of six West Midlands NHS Integrated Care Boards, is in the planning stage of a procurement process for sight testing and spectacle dispensing services for special educational settings in the West Midlands. Categorised under optician services (CPV: 85160000), this market engagement exercise is intended to explore the viability and structure of the future procurement opportunity. The exercise involves an early market assessment questionnaire to assist in shaping the upcoming tender process, with responses required by 5pm on Tuesday, 7th October 2025. The procurement method involves the use of an e-tendering system, with further formal procurement expected to be published in November 2025. This procurement presents a significant opportunity for providers within optician and healthcare services to expand their business by addressing the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Businesses with expertise in delivering accessible healthcare services in educational settings would be particularly well-suited to compete, due to the integration required in special schools. The scope includes delivering eye checks to approximately 24,784 students across the region, addressing barriers such as mobility, sensory or behavioural challenges, and ensuring integrated care within familiar school environments. This opportunity encourages providers to actively shape the service provision through feedback on various aspects, including service mobilisation, contract length, and payment models, which can lead to potential growth and visibility in the healthcare market. ## Notice NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU) on behalf of the 6 West Midlands NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICB) (referred to as the Commissioner) wish to inform the market of a future procurement opportunity for Sight Testing and Spectacle Dispensing Services for all Special Education Settings across the West Midlands Region and invite all interested providers to participate in an early market assessment questionnaire which will be used as a conduit to ascertain market capability and interest in the opportunity. The Six (6) ICBs across the West Midlands region are listed below (respective NUTS codes in brackets for your information): West Midlands * NHS Birmingham and Solihull (UKG31 & UKG32) * NHS Black Country (UKG36, UKG37, UKG38, UKG39) * NHS Coventry and Warwickshire (UKG33 & UKG13) * NHS Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin (UKG21 & UKG22) * NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (UKG23 & UKG24) * NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire (UKG11, UKG12) The Commissioner would like to invite interested providers to participate in an early market assessment questionnaire, prior to the formal procurement opportunity with an estimated publication date of November 2025. The market assessment questionnaire will help Commissioners to: * Gain market views on the viability of procuring the services * Determine length of future contracts, * Determine a suitable mobilisation period for the services, * Feedback on the proposed payment model, * Feedback on the draft Service Specification, * Determine the lotting strategy across the West Midlands region. The Commissioners would like to invite interested providers to register their interest via the Atamis e-tendering portal. Once registered providers will have access to the following documents to aid completion of the market assessment questions: 1. Market Assessment Video and the accompanying Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, 2. Draft Service Specification. We would like to encourage providers to review the draft Service Specification, watch the video and read the accompanying PowerPoint presentation, provided in order to inform their responses to the market assessment questionnaire. If your organisation is interested in this opportunity, then please respond to the market assessment questionnaire on Atamis and register your interest by following the instructions given below in section VI.3.0.1 Additional information. Please note the deadline for interested providers to complete the early market assessment questionnaire is 5pm on Tuesday 7th October 2025. ### Lot Information Lot 1 This notice is purely for providers to express an interest in the opportunity to provide Sight Testing and Spectacle Dispensing Service for all Special Education Settings. The Office of West Midlands (OWM) will be working on behalf of the following 6 West Midlands NHS Integrated care boards (ICBs): 1. NHS Birmingham and Solihull (indicative number of patients 6663) 2. NHS Black Country (indicative number of patients 4781) 3. NHS Coventry and Warwickshire (indicative number of patients 3450) 4. NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire (indicative number of patients 2844) 5. NHS Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin (indicative number of patients 1983) 6. NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (indicative number of patients 5063) to commission annual eye checks for all 5-25-year-olds, within a Special Educational Setting (SES) "Special Schools", across the West Midlands. The Commissioners are reaching out to the market for providers assistance in shaping this service for the circa 24,784 students across the West Midlands with special educational needs. Many children in special school's face barriers to accessing high street opticians due to mobility, sensory, or behavioural challenges. Research has shown that children with a learning disability and/or autism are 28 times more likely to experience challenges with sight and eye health. Half of the children assessed as part of the Proof of Concept (POC) had a problem with their eyes or vision, and at least a third needed glasses. Despite this greater need, most children and young people must attend a hospital eye department for routine services and over 40% have no history of eye care provision. The benefits of providing eye checks in a special school setting are: 1. Accessibility 2. Familiar Environment and people 3. Early Detection & Intervention 4. Educational Impact 5. Family Support 6. Integrated Care within the school. Please note the deadline for expressing an interest is 5pm on Tuesday 7th October 2025. Additional information: Please note the Contract Notice Publish date is only indicative at this time and is subject to change. The lotting strategy has not been decided as yet. The lotting strategy will be informed by a number of factors outlined in market engagement questionnaire and wider stakeholder's feedback. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/055724-2025 | | Notice type | Planning Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 11 Sep 2025 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 2 Oct 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 | Planned | | Lots status | Planned | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | NHS BIRMINGHAM AND SOLIHULL INTEGRATED CARE BOARD | | Locality | BIRMINGHAM | | Post town | Birmingham | | Postcode | B1 1TT | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLG West Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLG3 West Midlands | | ITL 3 | TLG31 Birmingham | | Local authority | Birmingham | | Electoral ward | Ladywood | | Westminster constituency | Birmingham Ladywood | | Delivery location | TLG West Midlands (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85160000 - Optician services ## Release History - 11 Sep 2025 at 10:15 - Planning - Planning Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/055724-2025 ## Notice URLs - https://health-family-contract-search.secure.force.com/?searchtype=Projects - https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome - https://www.birminghamsolihull.icb.nhs.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-h6vhtk-059865. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-059865.json.