--- title: "Norfolk Community Mental Health Outreach and Support Service" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Norfolk County Council" published: "2026-10-29" --- # Norfolk Community Mental Health Outreach and Support Service Buyer: Norfolk County Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff.json) ## Summary Norfolk County Council intends to commission a county-wide community mental health outreach and support service for adults with mental health needs. The service is intended to provide flexible, person-centred, recovery-focused support that helps people maintain independence, improve wellbeing, build resilience and strengthen local community connections. It is also intended to prevent needs escalating, reduce social isolation and support sustainable independence. Delivery would span Norfolk’s urban, rural and coastal communities, with providers working alongside Adult Social Care, health partners, housing providers, voluntary and community organisations and other stakeholders. The outreach service is to be commissioned separately from mental health supported living, changing the current combined model. Norfolk County Council is the buyer; Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board may be involved in evaluation. This is at the planning stage: the Council has stated its intention to procure, but has not yet invited tenders. It plans a Teams market-engagement session on 26 November 2026, from 3pm to 4.30pm, to explain the intended delivery model and timings and gather provider feedback. The Council intends to publish procurement documents in Spring 2027. The service may be divided into lots, and the Council is seeking market feedback on that approach. The proposed contract period is 1 April 2028 to 31 March 2032, with possible extensions to 31 March 2036; the contract length remains subject to agreement. The stated total value for the potential eight-year period is £18,576,760 excluding VAT (£22,292,112 including VAT), without Council uplifts. No evaluation basis or final procedure is set out. The service is marked as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises, so local and specialist organisations may be well placed to contribute, alone or through partnerships. The work calls for the ability to deliver accessible, responsive and flexible support across a county with urban, rural and coastal communities. Providers should be prepared to work in the unregulated service space and to demonstrate a recovery-focused, strengths-based approach to mental health support for adults. The Council is seeking a model that promotes independence and wellbeing, builds resilience and community connections, and helps prevent escalating need and social isolation. Effective collaboration with social care, NHS and other health partners, housing providers, community organisations and wider stakeholders will be central to delivery. The planned market session offers a route to comment on the service model and potential lot structure before the procurement is published. ## Notice Norfolk County Council is issuing this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice to inform the market of its intention to procure a new Norfolk-wide Community Mental Health Outreach and Support Service for adults with mental health needs. The Council is seeking to commission a county-wide service ( which may be divided into lots) that provides flexible, person-centred support to enable people to maintain their independence, improve wellbeing, build resilience, and strengthen connections within their local communities. The service will support individuals with mental health needs through a recovery-focused and strengths-based approach, helping to prevent escalation of need, reduce social isolation, and promote sustainable independence. The service is expected to operate across the whole of Norfolk and we will be seeking markets feedback on the approach to division of lots. The service will work in the unregulated space and deliver accessible and responsive support across urban, rural and coastal communities. The provider will be expected to work collaboratively with Adult Social Care, health partners, housing providers, voluntary and community sector organisations, and other key stakeholders to support positive outcomes for Norfolk residents. Commissioning the Community outreach services separately from mental health supported living is a change to the current model which is combined. The Council intends to publish the procurement documents in Spring 2027. The supported living requirement will be a Call-Off from an existing framework. Please note that the contract length has been included in the notice as 4 years plus a further 2 plus 2 years. Contract length has not yet been fully agreed and providers will be asked for their feedback on this. The value in this notice is for the total 8 year contract length and does not include any uplifts set by the Council. ### Planning Information The Council will be holding a market engagement session on 26 November 2026 from 3pm to 4.30pm on Teams. Although the session is for a maximum of 1.5 hours, it may end earlier depending on the number of questions asked during the session, The purpose of the session is for the Council to inform potential bidders about the intended new model for delivery, timelines and for providers to give feedback and ask questions. This market engagement event will be managed electronically via the Councils e-procurement system. To participate in this market engagement, applicants must first be registered on the system at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles. Once registered you will be able to see the procurement project under the tenders section and express an interest. If you encounter any difficulties whilst using the system you can contact the In-tend support team by phoning +44 8442728810 or e-mailing support@in-tend.co.uk. Once registered and having expressed an interest, please confirm the email addresses and names of those attending and who need a link to the Teams meeting. Any questions and answers raised at the market engagement session will be published on in-tend. No market engagement has been carried out prior to this notice. Meetings have been held with the encumbent provider around how the system is working and what could be improved. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/102378-2026 | | 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, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 29 Oct 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 2 Apr 2027 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Apr 2028 - 1 Apr 2032 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £18,576,760 | | 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 | Norfolk County Council | | Locality | NORWICH | | Postcode area | Norwich | | Postcode | NR1 2DH | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLH East (England) | | ITL 2 | TLH5 Norfolk | | ITL 3 | TLH51 Norwich and East Norfolk | | Local authority | Norwich | | Electoral ward | Lakenham | | Westminster constituency | Norwich South | | Delivery location | TLH15 Norwich and East Norfolk, TLH16 North and West Norfolk, TLH17 Breckland and South Norfolk | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85300000 - Social work and related services ## Release History - 29 Oct 2026 at 09:10 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/102378-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/102378-2026 29th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/ - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles - 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-0792ff. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0792ff.json.