AWARD OUTCOME
What happened
The Police and Crime Commissioner for West Midlands has concluded three research and evaluation contracts for its Violence Reduction Partnership. Contracts were signed on 14–15 October 2026 and start on 19 October 2026, running to 31 March 2027, with stated extension options.
Published outcomeBirmingham Voluntary Service Council won Lot 1; Blueprintco Ltd won Lot 2; and Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing Ltd won Lot 3. The published initial contract values total £116,640 gross (£99,110 excluding VAT).
Market significanceThis is a three-supplier, below-threshold open competition for West Midlands violence-reduction research, advisory support and evaluation services, including community peer research and habitual knife carrier evaluation.
AWARDED SUPPLIERS AND LOTS
3 supplier records analysed
BIRMINGHAM VOLUNTARY SERVICE COUNCIL
99% confidenceAward 1 · Lots Lot 1 – Violence Reduction Partnership Community Research · £66,312 gross (£55,260 excluding VAT) GBP · Active contract; signed 14 October 2026
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Award 1 names the supplier and relates to Lot 1; Contract 1 gives title, status, value and dateSigned. Supplier identity is verified by Companies House number 00421688.
BLUEPRINTCO LTD
99% confidenceAward 2 · Lots Lot 2 – Violence Reduction Partnership Research and Evaluation Support · £35,700 gross (£29,750 excluding VAT) GBP · Active contract; signed 14 October 2026
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Award 2 names the supplier and relates to Lot 2; Contract 2 gives title, status, value and dateSigned. Supplier identity is verified by Companies House number 14777447.
CAMBRIDGE CENTRE FOR EVIDENCE-BASED POLICING LTD
99% confidenceAward 3 · Lots Lot 3 – Violence Reduction Partnership Habitual Knife Carriers Evaluation · £16,920 gross (£14,100 excluding VAT) GBP · Active contract; signed 15 October 2026
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Award 3 names the supplier and relates to Lot 3; Contract 3 gives title, status, value and dateSigned. Supplier identity is verified by Companies House number 08660094.
LIFECYCLE
Award or contract stage
Procurement status
98% confidenceComplete; awards and contracts are active
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Tender and all three lots are marked complete; each award and contract is marked active.
Contract conclusion
99% confidenceContracts signed on 14–15 October 2026
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Contract 1 and 2 list dateSigned 14 October 2026; Contract 3 lists dateSigned 15 October 2026.
Contract commencement
99% confidence19 October 2026
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Each contract period has startDate 2026-10-19.
VALUES
Published values explained
Published initial total
99% confidence£116,640 gross; £99,110 excluding VAT
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Sum of the three published contract values: £66,312, £35,700 and £16,920 gross; £55,260, £29,750 and £14,100 excluding VAT.
Lot 1 contract value
99% confidence£66,312 gross; £55,260 excluding VAT
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Contract 1 value.
Lot 2 contract value
99% confidence£35,700 gross; £29,750 excluding VAT
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Contract 2 value.
Lot 3 contract value
99% confidence£16,920 gross; £14,100 excluding VAT
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Contract 3 value.
Notice-level maximum value
88% confidence£250,000
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Process value_max is £250,000 GBP.
TIMELINE
Procurement timeline
Tender notice published
99% confidence11 August 2026
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Release history records tender notice 076396-2026 on 2026-08-11.
Submission deadline
99% confidence28 August 2026, 17:00 BST
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Process submission_deadline is 2026-08-28T17:00:00+01:00.
Contracts signed
99% confidence14 October 2026 (Lots 1 and 2); 15 October 2026 (Lot 3)
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dateSigned in Contracts 1–3.
Contract details notice published
99% confidence16 October 2026
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Release history and contract documents record publication on 2026-10-16.
Initial contract end
99% confidence31 March 2027
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Each contract endDate is 2027-03-31.
SCOPE
What was awarded
Requirement
98% confidenceResearch and evaluation support for the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership across three lots.
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Tender title and description.
Lot 1 scope
96% confidenceCommunity research, including a peer research team, 250 peer-led surveys and 30 in-depth peer interviews across the West Midlands.
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Contract 1 title and agreed metrics.
Lot 2 scope
97% confidenceResearch and evaluation advisory support, including engagement with seven West Midlands local authorities, methodological reviews, a gaps-analysis report and support to establish an evaluation.
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Contract 2 title and agreed metrics.
Lot 3 scope
97% confidenceHabitual knife carriers process evaluation and proposed impact-evaluation methodology.
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Contract 3 title and agreed metrics.
Delivery geography
98% confidenceWest Midlands (UKG)
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All award items specify delivery address region UKG; scope and metrics refer to the West Midlands.
PROCEDURE
Procedure and competition
Procedure
99% confidenceBelow-threshold open competition
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Tender procurementMethod is open and procurementMethodDetails is 'Below threshold - open competition'.
Procurement regime
99% confidenceLight-touch services
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Tender specialRegime lists lightTouch.
Lot structure
99% confidenceThree lots, each awarded to a different supplier
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Awards 1–3 each map a single supplier to Lots 1–3 respectively.
Bid and evaluation information
99% confidenceNot published in the supplied notice data
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No bidder counts, tenderer identities beyond awardees, scores or evaluation rationale are supplied.
CONTRACT TERMS
Published contract terms
Initial term
99% confidence19 October 2026 to 31 March 2027
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Contract periods for Contracts 1–3.
Extensions
98% confidenceLot 1: up to 1+1 years; Lot 2: 1+1; Lot 3: one-year extension
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Renewal descriptions and maxExtentDate fields in Contracts 1–3.
Maximum stated end dates
99% confidenceLots 1 and 2: 31 March 2029; Lot 3: 31 March 2028
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maxExtentDate in the respective contract periods.
Performance measures
96% confidencePublished contract-specific deliverables and milestones apply to each lot.
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Each contract includes agreedMetrics.
COMMERCIAL VIEW
Commercial observations
Multi-specialist commissioning
98% confidenceThe buyer separated community research, broad research/evaluation support and habitual knife carrier evaluation into distinct awards.
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Three separately titled contracts were awarded to three different suppliers.
Published value position
95% confidenceThe total published initial contract value (£116,640 gross) is below the notice-level maximum of £250,000; the notice does not explain the difference or allocate any remaining headroom.
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Published contract values total £116,640 gross; process value_max is £250,000.
Delivery focus
96% confidencePublished measures emphasise practical research outputs, local-authority engagement and evaluation design within the initial term.
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Agreed metrics across Contracts 1–3.
DATA QUALITY
Gaps and source limitations
Supplier identity
99% confidenceAll three awarded suppliers are verified against the supplied Companies House company numbers.
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Supplier verification records show verified status using company-number matching for all three suppliers.
Award dates
99% confidenceInformation not supplied in the published notice; contract signature dates are available instead.
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Award records have null award_date, while contracts contain dateSigned.
Notice value interpretation
96% confidenceThe £250,000 process maximum is not explicitly identified as gross, net, initial-term or whole-life value. It should not be equated with the published contract total.
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Process records value_max £250,000 with no value_basis; contracts provide separate gross and net amounts.
Lot metadata
98% confidenceStructured lot titles, descriptions and values are not supplied in the lot records; contract titles and values have been used where available.
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Lot records have null title, description and value_amount; contract records contain titles and values.
SOURCE DATA LIMITATIONS
Information not supplied in the published notice
- The published data does not provide award decision dates, bidder numbers, unsuccessful bidders, evaluation scores, pricing schedules or reasons for award.
- The £250,000 notice-level maximum has no supplied value basis and differs from the £116,640 gross total of published initial contract values; no explanation or allocation is published.
- No information is supplied on whether extension options will be exercised; the renewal outlook is an estimate based only on explicit end dates and stated options.
MARKET THEMES
Relevant award themes
West Midlands Violence Reduction PartnershipVRP research and evaluationBirmingham Voluntary Service CouncilBlueprintco LtdCambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing Ltdpublic procurement
COMMON QUESTIONS
About this award
Who won the West Midlands VRP Research and Evaluation contracts?
Birmingham Voluntary Service Council won Lot 1, Blueprintco Ltd won Lot 2, and Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing Ltd won Lot 3.
What is the published value of the contracts?
The published initial values total £116,640 gross, comprising £66,312 for Lot 1, £35,700 for Lot 2 and £16,920 for Lot 3.
When do the contracts run?
All three initial terms start on 19 October 2026 and end on 31 March 2027. Extension options are stated in the published contract records.
ProcuraAxis award analysis supplements, but does not replace, the official award notice, contract data or procurement documents. “Awarded” does not by itself prove that a contract has been signed.