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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Preliminary Engagement Notice - Closing the Gap - VCSE Infrastructure Support

Reading Borough Council · Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 30 Sept 2026, 03:47.

Opportunity overview

Closing the Gap (CTG) is a contract opportunity for providers to deliver preventative community-based services. As part of this we currently commission an Infrastructure Support Service to support to the local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises. We plan to re-procure this service towards the end of 2025 with the intention of starting the new contract on the 1st April 2025. The contract value for this service is expected to be £130,000 per annum for up to 5 years for a total value of £650,000. Engaging with providers is a key part of developing what this service will look like. As such, we are holding an engagement session to share our procurement timetable and draft service specification. This will be an opportunity for us to gather feedback which will shape the final service. The draft service specification being shared has been based on learning from the current Closing the Gap service, a Needs Analysis, feedback from stakeholders, a working group of cross-council colleagues and external stakeholders and consultations with funding stakeholders regarding alignment to funding outcome requirements. This engagement session will be held via Teams on June 12th at 12:00 am. Please reply via a correspondence message via the Reading Borough Council In-Tend system to this notice with any email addresses you wish to be sent an invitation to this meeting.

Classification

  • CPV85320000 — Social services

Lots

  • Lot LOT-0001Value 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
RBC 00002278
Status
planning
Main Procurement Category
services

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Communication

Future Notice Date
1 Nov 2025, 23:59

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
LOT-0001
Status
planning
Has Renewal
Yes

Suitability

Sme
Yes
Vcse
Yes

Contract period

Ends
1 Apr 2029, 00:59
Starts
1 Apr 2026, 01:00
Max Extent Date
1 Apr 2031, 00:59

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
LOT-0001
Related Lot
LOT-0001

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Id
85320000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Social services

Planning and budget

Documents

Entry 1
Id
029027-2025
Format
text/html
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Published
2 Jun 2025, 10:23

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
engagement
Type
engagement
Status
scheduled
Due
13 Jun 2025, 00:59
Description
This engagement session will be held via Teams on June 12th at 12:00 am. Please reply via a correspondence message via the Reading Borough Council In-Tend system to this notice with any email addresses you wish to be sent an invitation to this meeting.

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-PPON-PWBJ-9435-VXQQ
Name
Reading Borough Council

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UKJ11
Country
GB
Locality
Reading
Postal Code
RG1 2LU
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Bridge Street

Details

Classifications

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

Identifier

Id
PWBJ-9435-VXQQ
Scheme
GB-PPON

Contact

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Reading · UKJ11 · RG1 2LU · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-052a51-2025-06-02T10:23:04+01:00Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ·