Find a TenderPast planning noticePreliminary market engagement notice
Published 14 Oct 2025, 09:51 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Financial Management Solution for VG and GMI Schools and School Fees Management Solution for VG Schools

Official notice

Authority: the Education Authority (Central government)

ServicesBelow threshold
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 5 yrsends 28 Feb 2031 · up to 28 Feb 2036 with extensions · starts 1 Mar 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 a Financial Management System in Voluntary Grammar and Grant Maintained Integrated Schools, and of a School Fees Management System for Voluntary Grammar Schools in Northern Ireland. The purpose of this PME exercise is for EANI to gain an understanding of the latest developments and innovative solutions available for school settings 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. Suppliers who wish to participate in the PME exercise must return the completed questionnaire via the messaging function of the CfT on eTendersNI no later than 15:00 on Friday 31st October 2025. As part of the PME exercise, participants may be invited to attend a follow-up session with EANI to explore and discuss the information provided in their response, this will be at the discretion of EANI.

CPV: Financial information systems · Financial systems software development services · Financial systems software package · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Industry specific software package · Software package and information systems

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Past planning notice
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
14 Oct 2025, 09:51 BST
Last source update
24 Oct 2025, 10:15 BST
Authority reference
EDIS-25-002
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-068064
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Financial information systemsFinancial systems software development servicesFinancial systems software packageIT services: consulting, software development, Internet and supportIndustry specific software packageSoftware package and information systems
Delivery area
Northern Ireland (UKN0)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05cbef Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

14 Oct 2025 → 1 Mar 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published379 days ago
    14 Oct 2025, 09:51 BST
  2. Latest notice published369 days ago
    24 Oct 2025, 10:15 BST
  3. Market engagement361 days ago
    31 Oct 2025, 23:59 GMT

    Suppliers who wish to participate in the PME exercise must return the completed questionnaire via the messaging function of the CfT on eTendersNI no later than 15:00 on Friday 31st October 2025. As part of the PME exercise, participants may be invited to attend a follow-up session with EANI to explore and discuss the information provided in their response, this will be at the discretion of EANI.

  4. Contract starts241 days ago
    1 Mar 2026

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 Oct 2025
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    14 Oct 2025, 09:51 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    24 Oct 2025, 10:15 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

The closing date and time for submission of responses to this pre-market engagement exercise has been extended until 15:00 on Friday 31st October 2025.

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

Education Authority

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PPHJ-6982-JPXY 40 Academy Stret, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 2NQContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure