Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 17 Feb 2026, 13:42 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Education Case Management System

Authority: the Education Authority (Central government)

ServicesBelow thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£6,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 12 May 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 22 Sept 2031 · up to 22 Sept 2036 with extensions · starts 23 Sept 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

***This is not a tender exercise*** The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) would like to invite participation in a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to seek the views of the market for the provision of an Education Case Management System as part of the EdIS Programme of work. The case management solution is required to facilitate the administration and support provided by EA pupil support services to over 317,000 pupils and their parents, approximately 1100 schools and approximately 8109 school governors and to integrate and connect data across EA and School systems (once the rollout of Schools Management System completes) to improve data quality, process and support to all children and young people. The purpose of this PME exercise is for EANI to gain an understanding of the latest developments and innovative solutions available and will be used to assist EANI in gaining a better understanding of the feasibility of the requirements, the most appropriate procurement and operational approach, the capacity of the market to deliver the requirements and an opportunity for the market to highlight any possible risks or issues. This PME exercise also seeks to identify indicative costs to help inform the business case on the commercial aspects for the delivery and implementation of solution(s). For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of any formal procurement process and there is no commitment at this stage to carry out such a process. Any information gathered will not be considered in any future tender exercise. Please note that participation or non-participation in this PME exercise shall not prevent any supplier from participating in any future procurement process, nor is it intended that any information provided shall place any supplier at an advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement exercise. Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from the documents section of the CfT on eTendersNI.

CPV: Document management software package · Educational software package · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Industry specific software package · Scheduling and productivity software package · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How the Education Authority buys Industry specific software package (CPV 4810), and who usually turns up

the Education Authority’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Industry specific software package (CPV 4810) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerthe Education Authority · division 48
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

How often small and medium firms win.

Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 1 of 5 known-size awards · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=151
20%33%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Here, local means the winner is registered in the region where that contract was delivered.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 3 known-location awards · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=145
3 of 320%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Northern Ireland.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 32 decided notices · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=14
45 days42 days

Half of these awards were announced within 45 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 1 of 6 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4810 · UK-wide, n=281
17%71%

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

How many bids did past lots attract?

i

How many bids past lots received.

Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.

Past bids do not predict this tender.

Last 36 months.

This buyer76 lots with bid counts · all categories
17% had one bid
The market23 lots with bid counts · CPV 4810 · UK-wide
17% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid17% / 17%
Buyer: 13 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
2–318% / 35%
Buyer: 14 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
4–622% / 35%
Buyer: 17 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 8 of 23 lots with published bid counts.
7+42% / 13%
Buyer: 32 of 76 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 23 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i

Where winning prices landed against estimates.

Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer57 lots with estimate and award · all categories
37% below estimate
The market12 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4810 · UK-wide
75% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate37% / 75%
Buyer: 21 of 57 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 9 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%51% / 17%
Buyer: 29 of 57 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate12% / 8%
Buyer: 7 of 57 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 12 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

What past awards tell you about each lot.

See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.

No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 481060 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£6.0m
Expected competition
i

How many bids this lot may attract.

The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.

Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 23 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet17% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 23 similar lots
1 bid17%
4 of 23 similar past lots received 1 bid (17%).
2–335%
8 of 23 similar past lots received 2–3 (35%).
4–635%
8 of 23 similar past lots received 4–6 (35%).
7+13%
3 of 23 similar past lots received 7+ (13%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the award price may land.

The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £6.0m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

A past supplier may not bid again.

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Who could compete for this lot?

Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.

None is confirmed as a bidder.

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
  • Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
  • Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
  • Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
17 Feb 2026, 13:42 GMT
Last source update
17 Feb 2026, 13:42 GMT
Authority reference
EDiS-25-006
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-014322
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Document management software packageEducational software packageIT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportIndustry specific software packageScheduling and productivity software packageSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06560c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

17 Feb 2026 → 23 Sept 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published247 days ago
    17 Feb 2026, 13:42 GMT
  2. Market engagement226 days ago
    10 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT

    Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from the documents section of the CfT on eTendersNI. Interested suppliers are asked to complete and return the questionnaire.

  3. Tender notice expected163 days ago
    12 May 2026, 23:59 BST
  4. Contract starts30 days ago
    23 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    17 Feb 2026, 13:42 GMT
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

the Education Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PPHJ-6982-JPXY 40 Academy Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT12NQContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure