West Dunbartonshire Foundations for Change Framework 2026
West Dunbartonshire's £23.7m Foundations for Change framework closes 20 July 2026. 6 lots, 80/20 scoring. Analysis from our 92% win rate team.
Image: CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
West Dunbartonshire Council has published the Foundations for Change Flexible Framework, a £23.69m framework for support services for adults aged 18 to 65 across 6 lots. The framework runs 60 months, is scored 80% quality and 20% price, and closes at 12:00 noon on 20 July 2026 via Public Contracts Scotland.
At a glance: Foundations for Change Flexible Framework, West Dunbartonshire Council. Estimated total value £23,690,000 excluding VAT over 60 months. 6 lots, each with an estimated value of £3,948,333. Open procedure under the Light Touch Regime of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Evaluation on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender basis, 80% quality and 20% price. Multiple providers will be appointed per lot. Submission deadline 20 July 2026, 12:00pm, via the PCS-Tender portal. Full details on our live tender record.
What is the Foundations for Change Flexible Framework?
Foundations for Change is West Dunbartonshire Council's flexible framework for community-based support for working-age adults, commissioned through the Health and Social Care Partnership. It replaces single-cohort contracting with a 6-lot structure that lets the HSCP place packages across learning disability, physical disability, cognitive impairment, sensory impairment and mental health pathways from one procurement.
The framework exceeds the standard 4-year ceiling, and the notice justifies the 60-month term on continuity of care, workforce sustainability and relationship building for people with complex needs. For providers, a 5-year framework with multiple appointed suppliers means a stable pipeline of individual packages rather than a guaranteed volume, so the bid case rests on being referable: visible, credible and easy for care managers to place with.
What are the 6 lots and their values?
Each lot carries an estimated value of £3,948,333 over 60 months. Lot 1 covers learning disabilities, including complex needs and behaviours that challenge. Lot 2 covers physical disabilities. Lot 3 covers cognitive impairment, including acquired brain injury. Lot 4 covers sensory impairment. Lot 5 covers mental health, including severe and enduring conditions. Lot 6 covers all services across Lots 1 to 5.
The lot descriptions repeat one demand in different forms: demonstrated experience with the specific cohort. Lot 1 asks for evidence of managing complex and high-risk needs. Lot 3 asks for experience with complex cognitive and neurological conditions. Lot 5 asks for evidence of supporting recovery, resilience and community integration. Generic supported living narratives will not carry across lots; each lot response needs cohort-specific operational evidence.
Lot 6 deserves careful thought. Bidding all services signals capacity, but the notice requires capability evidence across every service area. Providers strong in 2 or 3 cohorts will usually score better bidding those lots well than stretching into Lot 6 thinly. Our Dorset Council open framework case study, where a provider secured 5 lots on a first application, shows what disciplined multi-lot targeting looks like.
How will tenders be evaluated?
The award procedure uses the Most Economically Advantageous Tender basis with an 80/20 quality to price ratio, under the Light Touch Regime of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Quality is assessed against technical criteria covering methodology, quality and service delivery approach.
Before evaluation, bidders must clear selection on a pass/fail basis through the Single Procurement Document. The SPD stage covers relevant experience delivering comparable services, organisational capacity and staffing, regulatory and statutory compliance, and financial standing and insurance. Pass/fail means no marks for excellence here, but a single gap eliminates the bid before quality is read, so the SPD deserves the same care as the scored questions.
An 80/20 split keeps this a quality-led competition. Price discipline matters at the margins, and rates must fund the Fair Work First commitments described below, but lot appointments will be decided in the method statements.
What does the Scottish statutory context require?
This is a Scottish procurement, and bidders working from English templates routinely lose marks by citing the wrong regulator and the wrong statute. Registered support services in Scotland are regulated by the Care Inspectorate against the Health and Social Care Standards, with frontline workers registered with the Scottish Social Services Council. References to CQC ratings or English regulatory frameworks read as cut-and-paste errors to a Scottish evaluator.
The commissioning context is the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013, which gives supported people 4 options for how their support is arranged and puts choice and control at the centre of every package. Method statements should show how support plans, reviews and outcomes recording work within self-directed support, alongside partnership working with the HSCP and participation in its monitoring and contract management arrangements.
What do Fair Work First and community benefits mean for bidders?
The contract performance conditions require compliance with Fair Work First principles, Scotland's policy lever for fair pay and conditions in public contracts. For care providers, the headline commitments include payment of the real Living Wage, secure contracts, effective workers' voice and investment in workforce development. Evaluators will expect these as evidenced workforce practice, not policy intent.
Community benefits are also built into the requirement. The notice expects initiatives such as local employment opportunities, training and skills development, community engagement and support for inclusive economic growth within West Dunbartonshire. Strong responses will offer measurable, deliverable commitments sized to the framework: local recruitment numbers, training places, named community partnerships. A subcontract clause is included, so supply chain commitments count too.
What pitfalls catch bidders on frameworks like this?
The first pitfall is regulatory contamination. English providers expanding north who cite CQC, the Care Act 2014 or English safeguarding structures signal unfamiliarity with the operating environment they are asking to enter.
The second is treating the framework as a contract. Appointment guarantees access, not volume. Evaluators reward bidders who show they understand referral-based placement: response times to package requests, capacity management across lots and honest mobilisation timescales per package.
The third is cohort-generic writing. Six lots tempt bidders to write one methodology and adjust the nouns. Scored side by side against specialists, generic scripts lose. Our work on the Bradford Council Mental Health Supported Living Provider List, where 6 of 8 questions scored full marks, was built entirely on cohort-specific operational evidence of recovery-focused practice.
The fourth is under-costing Fair Work First. Real Living Wage commitments, secure contracts and training investment all sit inside the 20% price envelope. Pricing that cannot fund the workforce promises in the quality answers creates a contradiction evaluators are trained to spot.
How should providers prepare before the 20 July deadline?
The procurement documents are available free and unrestricted on the PCS-Tender portal, and the first step is a full read of the specification, SPD requirements and lot structure against your registration scope and delivery footprint. From there, lot selection drives everything: which cohorts you can evidence, which you cannot, and whether Lot 6 is genuinely within reach.
Across 200+ UK health and social care submissions, the discipline that most reliably moves scores is mapping every printed requirement before drafting, then answering in the commissioner's own structure and language. Our 12 tender writing tips from an evaluator-trained bid team sets out the approach, and our 5 tender writing skills guide covers the craft behind top-band answers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the value of the Foundations for Change framework?
The estimated total value is £23,690,000 excluding VAT over 60 months. Each of the 6 lots carries an estimated value of £3,948,333. Multiple providers will be appointed to each lot, so individual provider income depends on referrals and package placements rather than a guaranteed share.
When is the submission deadline?
Tenders must be submitted by 12:00 noon on 20 July 2026 through the PCS-Tender portal. Note the midday deadline: Scottish portals commonly close at noon rather than midnight, and late uploads are rejected automatically. Build in at least 24 hours of upload contingency.
Who can bid for this framework?
Any provider that can pass the Single Procurement Document selection stage, which assesses relevant comparable experience, organisational capacity and staffing, regulatory compliance and financial standing on a pass/fail basis. Support services will need appropriate Care Inspectorate registration and SSSC-registered staff to deliver in Scotland.
How is the framework scored?
Evaluation uses the Most Economically Advantageous Tender basis with an 80/20 quality to price split under the Light Touch Regime. Quality criteria cover methodology, quality and service delivery approach. The selection stage is pass/fail, so all competitive differentiation happens in the quality responses.
Can English providers bid for Scottish care frameworks?
Yes, and many do successfully, but responses must be written for the Scottish system: Care Inspectorate registration, SSSC workforce registration, the Self-directed Support (Scotland) Act 2013 and Fair Work First commitments. English regulatory references such as CQC ratings carry no weight and signal weak preparation.
Should we bid for Lot 6 (All Services)?
Only if you can evidence delivery across every cohort in Lots 1 to 5. Lot 6 requires demonstrated capability across multiple service areas. Providers with strong evidence in 2 or 3 cohorts typically score higher by bidding those lots well than by submitting thin evidence across all 5.
Bidding for Foundations for Change? Our evaluator-trained writers work exclusively in UK health and social care and hold a 92% win rate across 200+ submissions, including Scottish and multi-lot framework wins. We build cohort-specific method statements with named operational evidence for each lot you target. TenderLab Ltd, Companies House 17184263. Book a free consultation before the 20 July deadline.
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