Employment support products for JCS

General Information:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Commercial Directorate is undertaking preliminary market engagement to inform the future procurement(s) of employment support products (including Artificial Intelligence solutions) for use in JCS.

This engagement will involve various strands of activity (as detailed below) and aims to: (i) help Suppliers understand DWP’s objectives and early design considerations; and, (ii) enable the market to provide evidence-based feedback that may help shape DWP’s procurement approach.

Specific strands of this preliminary market engagement will close as detailed in the relevant section below. Where a specific strand does not state a close date or deadline, DWP’s intended close date for all strands within this preliminary market engagement is 30 October 2026.

DWP reserves the right to amend the various dates / deadlines for this preliminary market engagement and, in such event, will publish an update to this UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement Notice.

1. Supplier Briefing Event

The Supplier Briefing Event will be held via Teams on Thursday 2 April 2026, 10:00am to 12:00pm.

At the event DWP will outline the purpose, objectives and its requirements for the Jobs and Careers Service (JCS).

DWP’s attendees at the event will be from DWP’s Digital team responsible for delivering JCS and DWP’s Commercial team responsible for the procurement of any required products/services from Suppliers.

Suppliers are required to register their interest to participate in the Supplier Briefing Event no later than 11:00am on 31 March 2026 by submitting the MS Form at the following URL:

forms.office.com/e/3jEXJ1bAaE ↗

Please note that attendance at the Supplier Briefing Event is not mandatory. Suppliers not attending the Supplier Briefing Event are still able to participate in the RFI Questionnaire.

2. RFI Questionnaire

DWP will be issuing a Request for Information (RFI) questionnaire to Suppliers who wish to provide information relating to their products that address the high-level requirements of the JCS Employment Support categories detailed herein. The RFI will cover themes such as: details of the products /services available from the supplier; route to market options; commercial models; etc.

Suppliers wishing to complete a questionnaire should request a copy of the RFI no later than 5:00pm on 17 April 2026 by submitting the MS Form at the following URL:

forms.office.com/e/k0yShw63Wk ↗

A Supplier’s RFI Response must be submitted no later than 5:00pm on 1 May 2026 in accordance with the submission instructions that will be set out in the RFI. RFI Responses received after this deadline will not be considered.

DWP may follow up with individual Suppliers to clarify the content of its RFI Response.

Where further questions arise beyond those set out in the RFI, DWP may issue follow-up questions and request a further response to such follow-up questions from participating suppliers. The deadline for responding to any follow-up questions will be specified in DWP’s request.

3. One-to-one Supplier Meetings

DWP may choose to invite a limited number of Suppliers on an individual basis to discuss potential solutions. These meetings will be recorded to ensure fairness. The DWP aims to complete one-to-one supplier meetings by 30 September 2026.

4. Product demonstrations

DWP may choose to invite a limited number of Suppliers to provide a product/service demonstration for a potential specific solution that may meet DWP’s requirements and may help to develop specifications and assessment criteria. These sessions may also be used for DWP to explore alternative solutions. The DWP aims to complete all product demonstrations by 30 October 2026.

Selection criteria for 1:1 meetings and product demonstrations:

The selection criteria DWP will use for 1:1 supplier meetings and product demonstrations will be based on the following criteria:

• Relevance to DWP’s high-level requirements;
• Quality of capability in the relevant category;
• Understanding of user needs;
• Ability to demonstrate a mature product;
• Ability of the product to provide any required interface / data sharing requirements.

The JCS Employment Support categories are being explored individually at this stage. DWP welcomes participation from suppliers able to deliver products that address one, multiple or all categories. No preference will be given to suppliers based on the number of categories they can cover.

Non participation in this preliminary market engagement will not advantage or disadvantage a supplier’s ability to participate in any future procurement (which will be conducted in accordance with applicable public procurement regulations).