Local authority and ICB adult social care tenders: how care providers bid under the Procurement Act 2023
Adult social care contracts let by councils and integrated care boards are procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which took effect on 24 February 2025. Most fall within the light touch regime, so buyers have more freedom over process and timescales, but the evidence they score has not changed: CQC standing, safeguarding, outcomes, workforce and price. Deadlines are short, portals vary by authority, and a bid that starts at the tender notice is already late.
Key facts at a glance
- Legal basis
- Procurement Act 2023, in force since 24 February 2025. Health and social care services sit in the light touch regime
- Where notices appear
- Find a Tender (the central platform) for England and Wales; Public Contracts Scotland for Scotland. Buyers then run the tender on their own portal
- Portals you will meet
- Atamis (NHS trusts and ICBs), Proactis and ProContract (many councils), In-Tend, Public Contracts Scotland
- Typical timeline
- Market engagement or PIN, then a tender notice with three to six weeks to submit. Some run a PIN questionnaire first and the tender months later
- Standstill
- Eight working days after the assessment summaries are issued, under the Act
- What replaces the debrief
- An assessment summary for every bidder, setting out your scores against the criteria
- Three recent enquiry shapes
- A £31.5m council and ICB day opportunities service with a twelve-day window; an £800k NHS trust mental health centre on Atamis closing 12 November 2026; a Scottish council PIN in August with the tender expected in late November
What changed with the Procurement Act, and what did not
The Act replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for procurements started on or after 24 February 2025. For social care the practical changes are the central notice platform, the assessment summary that every bidder now receives, the eight working day standstill, and the buyer's freedom under the light touch regime to design its own procedure. A council can run a single stage, a two stage competitive flexible procedure, or a PIN questionnaire months ahead of the tender.
What did not change is the evidence. Evaluators still score your CQC or Care Inspectorate standing, safeguarding, person centred planning, outcomes, workforce recruitment and retention, business continuity, social value and price. The scoring grid is usually published with the tender. Bids that lose are rarely short of care quality. They are short of proof written to the grid.
The three shapes we see most
The council commissioning service. A council, often jointly with the integrated care board, lets a large multi-year service: day opportunities, reablement, supported living, a homelessness welcome centre. The value can run to tens of millions across the term. The window from notice to submission can be under three weeks, and the pricing schedule is usually the part providers find hardest.
The NHS trust or ICB service. Often under the light touch regime on Atamis, sometimes with a VCSE or partnership requirement, sometimes preceded by market engagement. Deadlines are firmer than councils' and clarifications close early.
The market engagement stage. A PIN questionnaire or supplier day months before the tender. Providers who treat this as optional lose twice: they miss the chance to shape the specification, and they arrive at the tender without the relationships or the evidence library the engagement would have built.
What to have ready before the notice
Registrations on the portals your commissioners use, checked and live. Your CQC registration and latest inspection, insurance certificates, safeguarding, complaints, business continuity and data protection policies, all dated and current. Three to five outcome case studies with numbers: hospital discharges supported, people moved to independent tenancies, reablement goals met. Staff data: turnover, training completion, pay against the Real Living Wage. A social value offer you can evidence, not aspire to.
All of it can be assembled before any notice appears. Done afterwards it consumes the writing time the bid needed.
How Glaxtons works on care tenders
Qualification first: we tell you whether the lot fits your capacity, geography and CQC standing, and we say so if it does not. Then a compliance matrix, evidence gap list and owners. Responses written to the published grid from your own delivery evidence. An independent evaluator-style scoring pass before submission. The portal upload managed. And an evidence library you keep, so the next council tender starts at sixty percent rather than zero.
If you are at the market engagement stage, the same work builds the response and positions you for the tender that follows.
Who should apply?
This page is for providers of:
Frequently asked questions
Do council social care tenders fall under the Procurement Act 2023?
Yes, for procurements started on or after 24 February 2025. Health and social care services sit within the light touch regime, which gives the buyer more flexibility over the procedure but still requires notices on the central platform, assessment summaries and a standstill period.
How long do we get to respond to a care tender?
It varies by authority. Three to six weeks from the tender notice is common, and under the light touch regime some councils give less. Where there is a PIN or market engagement stage first, the tender itself may follow months later. Treat the market engagement deadline as the real start.
Which portal will the tender be on?
The notice is on Find a Tender, or Public Contracts Scotland north of the border, and it names the portal. NHS trusts and ICBs mostly use Atamis. Councils commonly use Proactis, ProContract or In-Tend. Register on the ones your commissioners use before you need them.
Can Glaxtons help with a care tender that closes in under three weeks?
Often, yes. Send us the notice and the deadline first and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable. Call 020 3668 5488 or use the callback form and a director will come back with a Teams time.
What if we are not sure which council or ICB routes to pursue?
That is the Framework Route Review: a fixed-fee written map of the routes worth your time, with dates and the evidence you need ready, in five working days. It is for providers without a live tender. If you have a live tender, call us instead.
Send us the notice and the deadline
A short call is usually enough to know whether the tender is winnable and whether the window is achievable. Call 020 3668 5488, email info@glaxtons.co.uk with the notice reference, or use the callback form and a director will come back with a Teams time.