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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

001236 - Soft Market Testing Exercise for the Provision of a Deputy and Appointee Banking and Software Solution

Durham County Council · Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 29 Sept 2026, 23:03.

Opportunity overview

Durham County Council Deputy and Appointee Team (DAT) are exploring banking and software solutions to support the Deputy and Appointee functions of its customers. Currently, we support circa 950 customers with appointeeship or deputyship in any financial year. The DAT are responsible for managing the finances, including all daily living expenses and household bills, for individuals deemed to lack capacity to manage their financial affairs. Individual need will vary from monthly personal allowance payments to individuals who require their funds to be paid daily. For appointee cases, the DAT will access Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits and for CoP cases, this can range from investment accounts, private pensions, existing individual bank accounts and DWP benefits, and will also include property as applicable. Our current operating model is as follows: • One main bank account for Durham County Council (DCC). • All payments/income are paid into the main DCC bank account. • Support function to translate one main bank account into 950 individual virtual accounts and undertake reconciliation activity. • Software package as Client Record Management System (CRMS). • Pre-paid cards to make individual payments to customers daily, weekly, monthly. • Individual reconciliation of pre-paid card payments and transactions to individual virtual accounts. We are looking for an incorporated system for all financial transactions for our customers, reducing the duplication, interdependencies, and potential multiple impacts of the current system. Previous system ref DN742339

Classification

  • CPV48000000 — Software package and information systems
  • CPV66100000 — Banking and investment services

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
OPEN2025374
Status
planning
Above Threshold
Yes
Main Procurement Category
services

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
planning

Suitability

Sme
Yes
Vcse
Yes

Contract period

Ends
30 Sept 2029, 23:59
Starts
1 Oct 2025, 00:00

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKC
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
48000000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Software package and information systems
Entry 2
Id
66100000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Banking and investment services

Planning and budget

Documents

Entry 1
Id
010338-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Published
20 Mar 2025, 11:05

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
engagement
Type
engagement
Status
scheduled
Due
30 Apr 2025, 23:59
Description
Previous Soft Market Testing in the form of a SMT Questionnaire was completed in October 2024 (Under PCR2015) to try to identify potential market developments and available solutions for the Deputy & Appointee team to begin a review of their banking processes. As part of the next stages of this procurement activity, it is anticipated that unscored virtual demonstration sessions will be conducted with suitable suppliers as part of the market engagement prior to a procurement exercise being considered. These sessions are to take place in April 2025, should availability in-house and externally with the suitable suppliers allow.

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-PPON-PMPB-8772-VYWM
Name
Durham County Council

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UKC14
Country
GB
Locality
Durham
Postal Code
DH1 5WB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Corten House, Dunholme Close

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Id
publicAuthoritySubCentralGovernment
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Description
Public authority - sub-central government

Identifier

Id
PMPB-8772-VYWM
Scheme
GB-PPON

Contact

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Durham · UKC14 · DH1 5WB · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKC · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-04ef8f-2025-03-20T11:05:44ZPreliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ·