Scope
Description
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is seeking to carry out a preliminary market engagement exercise in relation to the provision of community drug and alcohol treatment and recovery service for adults.
All answers provided will assist the Council in shaping and scoping requirements and will provide insight into the most suitable procurement route. Any information provided will be strictly confidential and non-binding.
The Council wishes to provide fixed points of contact for this market engagement exercise and interested parties are requested not to contact any other individual or team at the Council or any of its other advisors. Any enquiries and responses should be sent via the messaging function within the London Tenders Portal.
The Council is committed to ensuring fairness, openness and transparency, and to follow UK procurement regulations. This market engagement exercise does not constitute any commitment by the Council or any of its stakeholders to undertake any public procurement exercise in the future.
Interested parties will not be prejudiced by any response or failure to respond to the market engagement exercise and an expression of interest in response to the PIN or the completion of the questionnaire does not guarantee any invitation to participate in informal discussions with the Council or any future public procurement process that the Council may conduct.
This market engagement activity does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services, supplies or works for the Council and the Council is not bound to accept any proposals offered. The Council is not liable for any costs, fees or expenses incurred by any party participating in the scoping exercise.
This procurement exercise is conducted in accordance with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR), as established under the Health and Care Act 2022. Consequently, this process is formally exempt from the application of the provisions under the Procurement Act 2023.
Total value (estimated)
- £17,000,000 excluding VAT
- £20,400,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032
- 5 years
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 85110000 - Hospital and related services
- 85120000 - Medical practice and related services
- 85140000 - Miscellaneous health services
- 85322000 - Community action programme
- 85323000 - Community health services
Contract locations
- UKI63 - Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton
Engagement
Engagement deadline
16 December 2025
Engagement process description
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is seeking to carry out a preliminary market engagement exercise in relation to the provision of community drug and alcohol treatment and recovery service for adults. The preliminary market engagement exercise will include a Soft Market Questionnaire and an online meeting, your organisation can participate in either or both.
The first stage of the exercise is a questionnaire which is available on the London Tenders Portal, please follow the link from this advert. A Memorandum of Information that sets out some useful background information on the current services and our current thoughts on potential future service requirements is also available.
An online information session, following the publication of the market engagement exercise questionnaire, is scheduled for 9th December 2025. This session offers the market an opportunity to hear from the commissioners and seek any necessary clarification before completing the questionnaire.
A maximum of two individuals per organisation are invited to attend the online session.
To register, please send the names and job titles of those attending through the pro-contract portal.
The deadline for registration is midday on Monday 8th December 2025. Following registration, an invitation containing a link to the online session will be sent out.
Suppliers are asked to complete and return the questionnaire via the London Tenders Portal no later than 12 noon Tuesday 16th December 2025.
From those organisations who respond to the Questionnaire, the Council reserves the right to invite selected respondents to participate in a virtual, question and answer session.The primary purpose of this session will be to allow the Council to ask further questions regarding the submitted responses in order to gain a deeper understanding of key elements and nuances within those responses. These sessions will be scheduled week commencing 12th January 2026 and will last no more than half an hour and will be conducted virtually to ensure convenience and accessibility for all invited participants.
Please note:
Where possible please answer all the PME questions in full and our guide in relation to word limit would be no more than 500 words. Do not provide any company brochures or promotional materials as these will not be considered in the Soft Market Testing exercise.
This advert relates to a preliminary market engagement exercise only and is NOT a call for competition. Any contracts for services or supplies relating to this exercise may be subject to separate procurement processes in accordance with the Provider Selection Regime.
Participation
Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
1 May 2026
Contracting authority
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PWRN-9366-HZGV
Guildhall
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1EU
United Kingdom
Email: commissioning@kingston.gov.uk
Website: http://www.kingston.gov.uk
Region: UKI63 - Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government