---
title: "HMP Southwest Buddy Scheme"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06de39"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06de39"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06de39.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06de39.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust"
published: "2026-08-06"
---

# HMP Southwest Buddy Scheme

Buyer: Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06de39

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## Summary

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust procured the HMP Southwest Buddy Scheme, a guidance and support service for prisons. The requirement has two elements: training and continuing professional development for buddies across the prison estate, and the day-to-day management of buddies. Training and programme development are owned by the healthcare provider, while daily management is shared between HMPPS and the health and social care team. The work concerns prison-based health and social care delivery, requiring coordination across established operational pathways and stakeholder arrangements. The buying organisation is Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, based in Dartford. The service is classified as guidance services and is relevant to providers with experience of buddy schemes, prison or secure-setting services, healthcare support, workforce development and coordinated day-to-day service management.

The procurement is complete and has been awarded through a direct award. Recoop was selected for the single lot, with an award date of 6 August 2026 and an awarded value of £154,000 including gross value, in GBP. The award is above the relevant threshold. The contract period is 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2029, with signature scheduled by 24 August 2026 and the standstill period ending on 18 August 2026. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust justified the direct award under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 on technical grounds, citing the need for continuity and compatibility with existing pathways, procedures, systems, equipment and stakeholder arrangements. The stated rationale is to avoid disruption, retraining and changes to established service delivery. The award status is recorded as pending.

For a future requirement of this kind, credible suppliers would need to combine prison or other secure-setting experience with healthcare and social care service delivery. The scope favours organisations able to design and deliver buddy training, provide continuing professional development, and manage a distributed programme across a prison estate. They would also need dependable operational management for day-to-day buddy activity, with clear coordination between healthcare providers, HMPPS and health and social care teams. Experience of maintaining continuity across established procedures, systems, referral or support pathways and stakeholder relationships would be commercially important. Suppliers should be able to demonstrate safe implementation, consistent service standards, staff retraining capability where needed, and the capacity to work within existing operational arrangements rather than requiring wholesale changes.

## Notice

The buddy scheme is split into two different elements. The first being the training and continued professional development of the buddies and the programme across the prison estate. This responsibility will be owned and developed by the healthcare provider. The second element to the service is the day to day management of the buddies which will be a dual responsibility between HMPPS and the health and social care team

### Procurement Information

The Contracting Authority considers that a direct award is justified under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 due to technical reasons connected with the delivery of the requirement. The requirement necessitates continuity of established operational arrangements, processes and service delivery methodologies that are integral to the effective and safe provision of the service. The technical characteristics of the requirement are such that maintaining compatibility with existing pathways, procedures, equipment, systems and stakeholder arrangements is essential to ensuring uninterrupted service delivery. Introducing alternative arrangements at this stage would require significant changes to established operational processes, retraining of staff, amendments to documented procedures, and the implementation of new interfaces and working practices. This would create a material risk of disruption to service delivery and could adversely affect quality, performance and continuity of care. A direct award represents the most proportionate approach to maintaining operational stability, preserving continuity of service and ensuring the ongoing delivery of services to the required standard whilst meeting the Authority's objectives.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074946-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 6 Aug 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 6 Aug 2026 |
| Contract period | 1 Sep 2026 - 30 Nov 2029 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £154,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust |
| Locality | DARTFORD |
| Postcode area | Dartford |
| Postcode | DA2 7WG |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ4 Kent |
| ITL 3 | TLJ43 Kent Thames Gateway |
| Local authority | Dartford |
| Electoral ward | Maypole & Leyton Cross |
| Westminster constituency | Dartford |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | Recoop |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85312310 - Guidance services

## Release History

- 6 Aug 2026 at 16:17 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074946-2026
- 6 Aug 2026 at 15:54 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074912-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074946-2026
  6th August 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074912-2026
  6th August 2026 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.oxleas.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-06de39. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06de39.json.