Official UK procurement notice
General Qualifications Logistics Service
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department for Education (DfE) is preparing to re-procure its General Qualifications Logistics Service.
The Standards and Testing Agency (The Authority) is an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE). The Authority is responsible for primary assessments and the General Qualifications Logistics Service (GQLS).
The GQLS covers all secondary and further education establishments in England and provides a single means for Examination Officers to despatch packages of completed exam scripts for marking. There is activity in all months, but the major peak is the annual summer examination series which runs across May and June.
We intend to utilise the Crown Commercial Service Courier, Distribution, Storage and Specialist Solutions Framework (RM6354), Lot 3c - Secure Collection and Delivery of Examination Test Papers and Materials. You are receiving this email because you are a registered supplier on this framework lot.
Before launching the Invitation to Tender (ITT), we would like to engage with the market to gather supplier feedback and insights that will help us shape the procurement approach and ensure our requirements reflect current market capability and best practice.
To support this activity, we are inviting suppliers to attend a one-to-one market engagement session with the DfE project team. These sessions will provide an opportunity to:
- Understand DfE's high-level requirements and objectives
- Provide feedback on the proposed service requirements.
- Share views on market developments, innovation and opportunities.
- Identify potential risks, challenges and dependencies.
The engagement sessions are intended solely for information gathering and market research purposes. Participation in these sessions will not form part of any future procurement evaluation process and will not provide any supplier with an advantage in any subsequent competition.
The estimated value of the contract for the initial 5 years is currently being determined and is anticipated to fall within the range of £40 million to £49 million.
CPV: Courier services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Education buys Courier services (CPV 6412), and who usually turns up
Department for Education’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Courier services (CPV 6412) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 50 days of the bid deadline.
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.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
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.
1 bid9% / 23%
2–335% / 55%
4–624% / 14%
7+31% / 9%
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.
Below estimate39% / 21%
Within ±2%50% / 68%
Above estimate11% / 11%
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.
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 6412Published estimate£49m
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 22 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid23%
2–355%
4–614%
7+9%
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.
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.
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.
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
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 10 Aug 2026, 15:58 BST
- Last source update
- 10 Aug 2026, 15:58 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-075872- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e07dFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
10 Aug 2026 → 1 Sept 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published74 days ago10 Aug 2026, 15:58 BST
- Market engagement49 days ago4 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
We are inviting suppliers to attend a one-to-one market engagement session with the DfE project team. These sessions will provide an opportunity to:
- Understand DfE's high-level requirements and objectives
- Provide feedback on the proposed service requirements.
- Share views on market developments, innovation and opportunities.
- Identify potential risks, challenges and dependencies.
The engagement sessions are intended solely for information gathering and market research purposes. Participation in these sessions will not form part of any future procurement evaluation process and will not provide any supplier with an advantage in any subsequent competition.
Further information will be shared via Jaggaer to all the framework suppliers.
- Tender notice expected25 days ago28 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today23 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 312 days1 Sept 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published10 Aug 2026, 15:58 BSTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender