Scope
Reference
011-PA-25
Description
Breckland Council (the "Council") is inviting quotations for the supply of digital support for the Local Plan. This will be divided into 3 lots:
Lot 1. A community engagement platform.
Lot 2. A digital consultation reviewer with summary capabilities
Lot 3. A back of house platform for Local Plan writing and editing
The Council is currently using an online community engagement platform to assist in reaching its diverse community across our geographically large district comprising 5 market towns and over 100 rural parishes. The aim is to keep this method of consultation available to increase community engagement in the Local Plan process and reach a greater number of people from all parts of the district and across all socio-economic groups and give them the opportunity to interact and share views, facilitate feedback, analyse this feedback and collaborate on future ideas.
As part of the Local Plan process, numerous responses are received from the public consultations. We are looking at digital options to reduce the time taken to sort, read and summarise these responses.
Total value (estimated)
- £65,000 including VAT
Below the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 13 October 2025 to 12 April 2027
- Possible extension to 12 October 2027
- 2 years
Description of possible extension:
There is a potential to extend for a further period of six (6) months.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 48100000 - Industry specific software package
- 72200000 - Software programming and consultancy services
Contract locations
- UKH17 - Breckland and South Norfolk
Lot 1. A community engagement platform
Description
The platform should enable community engagement in an accessible format to reach a wide audience. The platform should be user friendly with a legible, intuitive set up, allowing as many persons as possible to find the information that they are looking for and allowing them to easily give their opinions. The platform should also allow people to be kept up to date and have a record of their responses, with the ability to respond again and track changes to the key documents.
It is expected that the platform will demonstrate that it has reached a wider audience than the standard consultation method of a Council website, and the benefits should be clearly listed. The Platform should be accessible on a wide range of devices, and this should be demonstrable to further ensure accessibility.
Lot value (estimated)
- £25,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 2. A digital consultation reviewer with summary capabilities
Description
The consultation reviewer should use AI technology to sort, summarise and analyse trends of consultation responses to the local plan consultation. The platform should be able to summarise them, highlighting that AI has been used for anyone reviewing the summary. Key words will be identified to group consultation responses into categories and subcategories, enabling the reader to see that they are site specific where applicable.
This system will reduce the time taken to track and review consultation responses and will allow for results to be seen through a search as well as in full. Responses can be catalogued and placed in relevant areas for reference when the policies are being reviewed against the responses. While we would still utilise a human / humans to review all responses, the time reduction will come from sorting and summarising them and applying them to relevant parts and themes of the policy document.
Lot value (estimated)
- £20,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 3. A back of house platform for Local Plan writing and editing
Description
The system will provide a back of house function to write, edit, publish and track changes to the Local Plan. The writer will ideally work collaboratively with other elements to engage the responses to the Plan
Lot value (estimated)
- £20,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Participation
Conditions of participation
Lot 1. A community engagement platform
Lot 2. A digital consultation reviewer with summary capabilities
Lot 3. A back of house platform for Local Plan writing and editing
PSQ should be completed
Particular suitability
Lot 1. A community engagement platform
Lot 2. A digital consultation reviewer with summary capabilities
Lot 3. A back of house platform for Local Plan writing and editing
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
19 August 2025, 5:00pm
Tender submission deadline
27 August 2025, 12:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
The Council is using In-Tend for this Procurement which means that the RFQ is available in electronic form. Suppliers are required to register with In-Tend for access to the RFQ and associated documents for this Procurement at:
https://in-tendhost.co.uk/brecklandcouncil/aspx/Home.
All quotations and any questions or clarifications relating to this procurement must be submitted electronically via the Council's procurement portal.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Award criteria
Lot 1. A community engagement platform
There are 9 Pass fail questions and Lot 1 will have 3 response required quality questions with a weighting of 60% and one social value question weighted at 10%. Price is weighted at 30%.
Lot 2. A digital consultation reviewer with summary capabilities
There are 9 Pass fail questions and Lot 2 will have 3 response required quality questions with a weighting of 60% and one social value question weighted at 10%. Price is weighted at 30%
Lot 3. A back of house platform for Local Plan writing and editing
There are 9 Pass fail questions and Lot 3 will have 3 response required quality questions with a weighting of 60% and one social value question weighted at 10%. Price is weighted at 30%
Procedure
Procedure type
Below threshold - open competition
Documents
Associated tender documents
011-PA-25 Digital Support for the Local Plan RFQ final.docx
Digital Support for the Local Plan RFQ including instructions on submission, the specification, T&Cs, evaluation methodology, quality questions and pricing.
Appendix E - KPIs for Digital Support for the Local Plan.docx
Appendix E - KPIs for Digital Support for the Local Plan
Appendix F - Terms of Engagement template 011-PA-25.docx
Appendix F - Terms of Engagement template
An example of the contract
Appendix G - PSQ for Digital Support for the Local Plan.docx
Appendix G - Below Threshold PSQ for Digital Support for the Local Plan
Contracting authority
Breckland District Council
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PBBD-9961-PPPD
Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke
Dereham
NR19 1EE
United Kingdom
Email: procurement@breckland.gov.uk
Region: UKH17 - Breckland and South Norfolk
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government