--- title: "East Midlands Freeport - HR Services" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Leicestershire County Council" published: "2026-08-28" --- # East Midlands Freeport - HR Services Buyer: Leicestershire County Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96.json) ## Summary East Midlands Freeport is considering an outsourced, comprehensive human resources service as it moves away from HR provision currently hosted by Leicestershire County Council. The requirement would cover the full HR function, including strategic, operational and advisory services. The service is intended to support East Midlands Freeport as a lean, high-growth organisation operating within a complex governance and regulatory environment. This is a business services and HR consultancy requirement, with the relevant classification covering business, consulting and recruitment services. Leicestershire County Council is conducting the engagement on behalf of East Midlands Freeport. The work would support the Freeport organisation and its transition to an external HR provider. This procurement is at the planning and preliminary market-engagement stage, not a call for competition or invitation to tender. The buyer is gathering information through a request for information, with responses expected by 25 September 2026. The future requirement is described as one lot and is identified as suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. An indicative contract period is shown as 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027, but the buyer states that these dates are not accurate. The estimated value is approximately £99,000 excluding VAT, or £118,800 including VAT. The value is below the relevant threshold. Participation in the engagement would not create a commitment to procure or confer an advantage in any later competition. The engagement will suit established outsourced HR providers, HR consultancies and specialist firms able to deliver a complete HR function rather than a single advisory service. Relevant capability is likely to include strategic workforce support, day-to-day operational HR, employee and management advice, and the ability to work within public-sector governance and regulatory requirements. Providers should be able to manage a transition from an existing council-hosted arrangement into an independent service, while supporting a lean, high-growth organisation. Experience of designing or operating flexible HR services for organisations with complex governance arrangements would be useful. The requirement is marked as suitable for SMEs, so smaller providers with sufficient breadth, resilience and capacity to cover the full service may prepare to engage when a procurement is developed. ## Notice East Midlands Freeport (EMF) is seeking to procure a comprehensive, outsourced Human Resources (HR) service to support the organisation as it transitions away from the current HR provision hosted by Leicestershire County Council. The outsourced service will be required to provide a full HR function, covering strategic, operational and advisory activity, aligned to EMF's ambitions as a lean, high growth organisation operating within a complex governance and regulatory context. *Please not contract start and end dates given in this notice are not accurate* *Contract value is an approximate value * Please note: This engagement is exploratory only. It does not constitute a procurement process, call for competition, invitation to tender, or commitment by East Midlands Freeport to undertake any future procurement activity. Participation in this engagement will not give any provider an advantage or disadvantage in relation to any future opportunity, should one arise. ### Planning Information Please note this is not an opportunity to tender but is an information gathering exercise to inform East Midlands Freeports (EMF) future requirement. LCC are running this process on EMFs behalf. Please respond to the questions within the RFI document which an be found on Providers wishing to take part can register their interest via the Council's e-tendering portal EastMidsTenders : https://www.eastmidstenders.org Providers should register/log-in to the East Midlands Tenders portal via the above link and search for the opportunity using the reference DN827815. Full event details, including information on how to register, are available under the opportunity listing. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/082204-2026 | | 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 | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 28 Aug 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 25 Sep 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Oct 2026 - 30 Sep 2027 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £99,000 | | 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 | Leicestershire County Council | | Locality | LEICESTER | | Postcode area | Leicester | | Postcode | LE3 8RA | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) | | ITL 2 | TLF2 Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | | ITL 3 | TLF22 Leicestershire CC and Rutland | | Local authority | Blaby | | Electoral ward | Glenfield Faire | | Westminster constituency | Mid Leicestershire | | Delivery location | TLF22 Leicestershire CC and Rutland | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security ### Codes - 79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security ## Release History - 28 Aug 2026 at 14:06 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/082204-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/082204-2026 28th August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - http://www.leics.gov.uk - https://www.eastmidstenders.org - 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-06ee96. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06ee96.json.