Official UK procurement notice
Evidence-Based Early Years Maths Programme
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department for Education is commissioning an evidence-based early maths programme aimed at improving numeracy outcomes for children in early years settings across England.
Early maths skills are strongly linked to later academic achievement and workforce success, yet many children begin school without the expected level of development in maths.
Despite its importance within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), maths remains one of the lowest-performing areas, partly due to limited training and confidence among educators.
This contract will support the delivery of an evidence-based early maths programme to at least 5,000 settings, with a minimum completion rate of 80%, and requires programmes to be backed by robust evaluation, either a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) or Quasi-Experimental Design (QED) plus an implementation and process evaluation (IPE).
CPV: Education and training services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedPublished value£4,500,000
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).
- Evaluation report
- Delivery and implementation
- Recruitment and retention
- Governance and assurance
- Social value
- Price
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
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 20 Jun 2025, 14:15 BST
- Last source update
- 25 Mar 2026, 15:15 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 5 Feb 2026
- Authority reference
itt_3727- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-070870- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0550f5Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 5 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 20 Nov 2025, 17:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
The Department is administering the Tender process via its e-Tendering Portal, (Jaggaer; education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗). Jaggaer is the only method for submitting tenders and suppliers should not make any other form of approach to the Department in connection with this procurement. It is the responsibility of Potential Suppliers to ensure they can access and use the Jaggaer system. Jaggaer is owned and hosted by an independent organisation, any issues in respect of functionality or using the system must be directed to the Jaggaer helpdesk via 0800 069 8630 or www.jaggaer.com/submit-supplier-supp… ↗
Timeline
20 Jun 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 11 dates- Planning notice published20 Jun 2025, 14:15 BST
- Market engagement10 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to notify the market of a potential opportunity to bid for the delivery of an evidence-based early maths programme from April 2026 onwards.
Interested parties are invited to a market engagement event on Thursday 10 July from 14:00 to 15:00 to hear further details and share any views or questions relating to this potential opportunity.
For information: Attendance at the market engagement events is not a pre-requisite for being able to submit a tender against this opportunity. If you are unable to attend the market engagement event, the slides and any Q&A outcomes will be made available.
This notice is a zero value PIN notice for early market engagement. It is for information only and is not a call for competition.
The Department reserves the right not to enter a formal procurement process and not proceed with contract award. Accordingly, the Department will not be liable for any bid cost, expenditure, work or effort incurred by any organisation in acting on the basis of this Prior Information Notice.
To attend the event you will need to register on the following portal: education.app.jaggaer.com ↗
Please also email [email protected] as well as [email protected] to register your interest.
- Next notice expected4 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published350 days ago4 Nov 2025, 14:09 GMT
- Clarification questions by334 days ago20 Nov 2025, 17:00 GMT
- Submission deadline319 days ago5 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected by256 days ago5 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Assessment summaries sent256 days ago6 Feb 2026
- Standstill ends244 days ago17 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice published209 days ago25 Mar 2026, 15:15 GMT
- Contract starts202 days ago1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
10 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 20 Jun 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published20 Jun 2025, 14:15 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published4 Nov 2025, 14:09 GMTUK4
- Published value published: £4,500,0004 Nov 2025, 14:09 GMT
- Status changed to active4 Nov 2025, 14:09 GMT
- Procurement method changed4 Nov 2025, 14:09 GMT
- Deadline published: 5 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT4 Nov 2025, 14:09 GMT
- Contract award notice published6 Feb 2026, 12:38 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete6 Feb 2026, 12:38 GMT
- Contract signature expected20 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published25 Mar 2026, 15:15 GMTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-06: 1 release · 20 Jun 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Day Nurseries AssociationSMEVCSE1 Apr 2026 – 31 Aug 2029 | £4,407,915 | 6 Feb 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · National Day Nurseries AssociationSMEVCSE
- Signed
- 13 Mar 2026
- Value
- £4,407,915
- Period
- 1 Apr 2026 – 31 Aug 2029 · up to 31 Jan 2030 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- 5 months
3 agreed KPIs: Maximum Programme Take Up · Settings Initiated Within Contracted Timeframe · Programme Completion Rate
- Maximum Programme Take Up
- Settings Initiated Within Contracted Timeframe
- Programme Completion Rate
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2final-stage tenders | 2 | 1 | — |
Who bid
- did not winTecnis Academy LimitedSME · South East England
- wonNational Day Nurseries AssociationSMEVCSE · Yorkshire and the Humber
Bidders as named on the Procurement Act 2023 award notice. “Won” means the bidder holds an award on this notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice · 1 awarded- National Day Nurseries AssociationAwarded supplier
- Tecnis Academy LimitedBidder / tenderer
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender