Official UK procurement notice
DfC Collaborative Framework for the Provision of Interpreting and Translation Services
Authority: Department for Communities (Central government)·On behalf of: CPD
What is being bought7 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionConstruction and Procurement Delivery (CPD), on behalf of the Participating Bodies (Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments, Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, and other Participating Bodies – ‘the Buyer’) is seeking to establish a collaborative framework agreement for the provision of interpreting and translation services.
Suppliers should refer to the Specification Schedules for full detail on the requirements of this framework agreement.
Neither CPD nor the Participating Bodies can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this framework agreement.
CPV: Interpretation services · Translation services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Type
- Open framework
- Call-offs
- call-offs are awarded directly to appointed suppliers, without further competition
- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 1 Sept 2026
- Buyer regions
- UKN
Who may buy through it
Please see document entitled 'ID5981538 - Specification Annex C List of participating bodies'
Published description of the framework
The term of framework will be 4 years.
Lots 1 – 3.4: One Contractor will be appointed under each Lot, the highest ranked supplier from each individual evaluation.
Lot 4: Three Contractors will be appointed to this Lot, the highest ranked suppliers from the evaluation. The Buyer reserves the right to appoint less than three Contractors, dependent on the number of compliant suppliers remaining within the process following any exclusions.
Lots and requirements (7)Procurement structure
7 lots · all with a published value · same conditions of participation on every lotEvery one of these 3 lots carries the same published figure, £5,000: it is the framework's maximum for the whole notice, not each lot's own budget, and no share per lot is published. The cards below say ceiling above rather than repeat it.
Lot #1Face to Face and VideoPublished value£890,000
Face to Face and Video services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
Lot #2TelephonePublished value£3,200,000
Telephone translation services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
Lot #3Sign Language (BSL & ISL)Published value£905,000
Sign language interpretation services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
Lot #4Lip Speakingceiling above
Lip Speaking translation services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
Lot #5Note Takingceiling above
Note taking services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
Lot #6Sign Language Translationceiling above
Sign language translation services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
Lot #7Written & TranscriptionPublished value£990,000
Translation & Transcription services
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- Economic & financial standing
As per tender documentation
- Technical & professional ability
As per tender documentation
- “DfC Collaborative Framework for the Provision of Interpreting and…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract, and call-offs are awarded directly: getting appointed is the whole game.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Please see document entitled 'ID5981538 - Specification Annex C List of participating bodies'
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 2 Jun 2026, 11:31 BST
- Last source update
- 2 Jun 2026, 11:31 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 31 Aug 2026
- Authority reference
ID 5981538- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-051800- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ab42Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
For further details on invoicing procedures please see : www.finance-ni.gov.uk/ar ↗ ticles/account-ni-good-invoicing-practice
Non-Account NI user organisations will advise of their invoicing and payment arrangements after award as required.
Contract Value: The estimated value figure indicated in the Scope Section represents an overall estimated contract value. The value figures indicated against each individual Lot are also estimated values. These values reflect the potential scale of the contract, but do not however take into account the application of indexation or increases to charges due to increases in the Real Living Wage. Neither CPD, the Contracting Authority and participating bodies can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Suppliers remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Supplier in connection with taking part in this procurement process regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise (and a Supplier shall have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into) until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the Contracting Authority.
- Risks
The Contracting Authority has identified the following risks as risks that satisfy the criteria of Schedule 8 sub-paragraph (6)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 i.e. that the risk/s could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract but, because of its/their nature, cannot be addressed in the contract as awarded:
- Possibility of a supplier in a niche / limited market no longer prepared, or able, to provide services.
The Contracting Authority has concluded that there is a possibility that the contract may have to be modified as a result of a materialisation of the known risk/s at a later date in accordance with Schedule 8 paragraph 5 of the Procurement Act 2023.
Exclusions
If at any time during the procurement, or post award, it comes to the attention of the Contracting Authority (CA) or CPD, by whatever means, that a Supplier has become ‘excluded’ or ‘excludable’ as per Sec 57 of the PA 2023, the CA, after compliance with its obligations under the PA 23, reserves the right to exclude said Supplier from the procurement procedure or terminate any contract they have been awarded.
The Contracting Authority expressly reserves the rights:
(I). not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice;
(II). to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering Competition;
(III). to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of the services covered by this notice; and
(IV). to award contract(s) in stages.
and in no circumstances will the Authority be liable for any costs incurred by candidates.
The Framework Agreement is to be awarded by Construction and Procurement Delivery on behalf of any public sector organisations requiring services in Northern Ireland including:- Government Departments; Agencies; Non-departmental Public Bodies; or other Contracting Authority (including subsidised bodies or other grant recipients). A list of potential organisations will be included in the tender documentation. This framework Agreement will be used to progress the Government’s wider social, economic and environmental objectives.
Suppliers should note that all dates, time periods and figures in relation to values and volumes specified in this notice and the procurement documents are approximate only and the Contracting Authority reserves the right to change any or all of them.
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 29 Jun 2026, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 19 Jun 2026, 18:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders must be submitted electronically via the relevant Call for Tender (CfT) opportunity on eTendersNI, website details immediately below.
Paper submissions will not be accepted or considered and will be rejected by the Contracting Authority / Buyer.
The tender documents are available with unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: URL etendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
Timeline
2 Jun 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 5 dates- Tender notice published144 days ago2 Jun 2026, 11:31 BST
- Clarification questions by126 days ago19 Jun 2026, 18:00 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends117 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown29 Jun 2026, 15:00 BST
- Award decision expected by53 days ago31 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts53 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published2 Jun 2026, 11:31 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- CPDBeneficiary authority
- CPD - Supplies & Services DivisionProcess contact pointProcuring entityConstruction and Procurement Delivery – Supplies and Services Division, is a Centre of Procurement Expertise and provides a central procurement function for central government in Northern Ireland.
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender