Section 19

What the buyer is asking for

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council "The Authority" is seeking provision for Section 19 Alternative Provision services. Section 19 of the Education act 1996 is the statutory duty to provide suitable education for all children and young people of compulsory school age who cannot access mainstream school places. This includes, permanently excluded pupils, and pupils who, because of illness or other reasons, cannot attend mainstream. Bolton Council determine the number of high needs places required each year and submits the figures to the DfE by December 5th for the following academic year. These are finalised and published in February before September term starts. This process should reflect planned and predicted changes for the following academic year, so that schools and colleges receive an appropriate level of core funding, that enables them to make the special provision that is to be commissioned, particularly any expansion of that provision. The Authority intends to run an Open Tender Process for a 1-year contract for the Academic year 2027 to 2028 provision, as the Provider needs to be in place before November 2026 to be able to submit to the DfE on time. The Authority then intends to run a further process for the 2028 provision for a longer contract of 3 Years with the option to extend for up to 2 x 12 month periods, which will be advertised in 2027.

How this is scored

Published by the buyer. A winning response is written to these weightings, not to the question.

• 35%qualityQuality
• 45%pricePrice
• 20%qualitySocial Value

What you must already have

Conditions of participation. These are pass or fail, so check them before writing anything.

• economic

  As detailed in the Invitation to Tender

• technical

  As detailed in the Invitation to Tender

How contested is this?

Buyers publish how many bids they received. Across 71 comparable procurements we can tell you the typical field size, how often one of these goes uncontested, and whether the buyer awards on price or on quality.

Timeline

4 published dates · Europe/London

1. Tender notice published34 days ago

   18 Aug 2026, 17:16 BST
2. Clarification questions by4 days ago

   17 Sept 2026, 16:00 BST
3. Submission deadlinein 3 days

   24 Sept 2026, 16:00 BST
4. Award decision expected byin 40 days

   31 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT

Commercial outcome and contract awards

Nothing awarded yet

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender

1. Pipeline or early engagement notice30 Jul 2026, 14:11 BST072225-2026
2. Tender notice18 Aug 2026, 17:16 BST078718-2026

Documents

• Tender notice on Find a Tender