Official UK procurement notice
HR and Payroll System (5 Year contract)
Authority: East Kent Colleges Group (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionAs a family of six community-based colleges across East Kent, EKC Group's mission is to play a leading role for East Kent in developing the economic and social prosperity of the communities we serve.
The Group's current Human Resources and Payroll system is being phased out by the supplier from 31 March 2026 and this has bought forward a planned procurement exercise for these solutions.
The Group employs over 1500 staff and provides HR and payroll services for our sister EKC Schools Trust, which has 700 employees over 15 schools. We have a wholly owned subsidiary that runs a Hotel which has 41 employees and a Tronc Scheme of 51 employees.
At present the Group has proprietary software for performance management, leave and expenses claims and a third-party recruitment and onboarding system (e-ploy). Whilst these could be maintained this tender includes the potential to include these elements within the overall software supplied.
- How the procedure runs: The tender process will be run using two rounds. The First Round will be carried out as a written submission which tenderers satisfy the tender requirements of the legal services being sought, and meet, the evaluation criteria above. Following assessment, the top three tender scores will be shortlisted to participate in the Second Round. The Second Round will consist of a virtual (MS Teams) one-hour interview, consisting of presentation and panel questions. Final Scoring will consist of an aggregation of First Round and Second Round scores at ratio of 75% to 25%. The top score following aggregation will be put forward for consideration subject to the internal approval process, relevant due diligence checks and/or references. Even in the event of a tender receives the top score, EKC will be under no obligation to enter into contact with the relevant bidder until the internal approval processes have been completed.
CPV: Miscellaneous services · Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedPublished value£425,000
- Economic & financial standing
A service provider that offers HR and Payroll systems to Further Education, Higher Education and/or Multi Academy Trust education providers.
- Technical & professional ability
Suppliers must hold Cyber Essentials, with Cyber Essentials + preferred.
The systems must be Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) compliance and offer Single Sign On capability.
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).
Published sub-criteria (4)
- Customer Requirements: 50%
- Added Value: 10%
- Price: 30%
- Corporate Social Responsibility: 10%
Published award criteria (4)
- Price
- Customer Requirements: See the tender pack for full details of the customer requirements.
- Added Value
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Economic & financial standing
A service provider that offers HR and Payroll systems to Further Education, Higher Education and/or Multi Academy Trust education providers.
- Technical & professional ability
Suppliers must hold Cyber Essentials, with Cyber Essentials + preferred.
The systems must be Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) compliance and offer Single Sign On capability.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 30 Oct 2025, 10:39 GMT
- Last source update
- 24 Mar 2026, 11:25 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 10 Dec 2025
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-069642- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d6e8Find a Tender
- How it runs
The tender process will be run using two rounds.
The First Round will be carried out as a written submission which tenderers satisfy the tender requirements of the legal services being sought, and meet, the evaluation criteria above.
Following assessment, the top three tender scores will be shortlisted to participate in the Second Round.
The Second Round will consist of a virtual (MS Teams) one-hour interview, consisting of presentation and panel questions.
Final Scoring will consist of an aggregation of First Round and Second Round scores at ratio of 75% to 25%.
The top score following aggregation will be put forward for consideration subject to the internal approval process, relevant due diligence checks and/or references.
Even in the event of a tender receives the top score, EKC will be under no obligation to enter into contact with the relevant bidder until the internal approval processes have been completed.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 24 Nov 2025, 17:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 11 Nov 2025, 17:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
All questions and queries are to be directed to:-
Tenders submissions ONLY must be returned via email to [email protected] on 24/11/2025 before 5pm.
Suppliers may return their tenders before this date but should do so via a passworded One Drive link. The password should then be provided after 5pm on 24/11/2025 via email to [email protected]
Late tender bids will not be considered.
Timeline
30 Oct 2025 → 1 Apr 2026 · 8 dates- Tender notice published357 days ago30 Oct 2025, 10:39 GMT
- Clarification questions by345 days ago11 Nov 2025, 17:00 GMT
- Submission deadline332 days ago24 Nov 2025, 17:00 GMT
- Assessment summaries sent317 days ago10 Dec 2025
- Award decision expected by316 days ago10 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Standstill ends307 days ago19 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice published212 days ago24 Mar 2026, 11:25 GMT
- Contract starts205 days ago1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
14 events · 12 releases on Find a Tender · since 30 Oct 2025- Tender notice published30 Oct 2025, 10:39 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published3 Nov 2025, 17:02 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published4 Nov 2025, 16:11 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published10 Nov 2025, 12:48 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published10 Nov 2025, 13:00 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published14 Nov 2025, 11:11 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published14 Nov 2025, 12:43 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published14 Nov 2025, 15:51 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published17 Nov 2025, 10:46 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published19 Nov 2025, 13:58 GMTUK4
- Contract award notice published10 Dec 2025, 14:28 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete10 Dec 2025, 14:28 GMT
- Contract signature expected22 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published24 Mar 2026, 11:25 GMTUK7
Published amendments (5)
Please find Clarifications and Guidance Document 1 in the Documents Sections for further information.
Clarifications guidance documents two and three are now available for downloading as seen in documents section.
Guidance documents 4 & 5 available for download
Clarifications & Guidance Document 6 - EKC Responses
IMPORTANT: Added - Clarifications and Guidance 6 - General Position on International participation (Suppliers outside the UK)
Routine re-releases (12)
- 2025-11: 8 releases · 3 Nov 2025, 17 Nov 2025
- 2025-10: 1 release · 30 Oct 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEALTHBOXHR LTDSMEHR and Payroll System Provider (2026 - 2031)1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2031 · up to 31 Mar 2034Extensions: If EKC Group is satisfied with the service and quality of the system a 3-year renewal term can be enacted. · Options: If new and relevant modules become available. | £412,560 | 9 Dec 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · HEALTHBOXHR LTDSME
- Signed
- 23 Dec 2025
- Value
- £412,560
- Period
- 23 Dec 2025 – 22 Dec 2030 · up to 31 Mar 2034 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- If EKC Group is satisfied with the service and quality of the system a 3-year renewal term can be enacted.
3 agreed KPIs: System Operations · Financial accuracy & accessibility · HR Compliance Reporting
- System Operations, -Service standards as per contractual agreement to provide and maintain uptime of 99.99% good service during normal business hours. -The 00.01% downtime will be resolved within not more than 3 hours.
- Financial accuracy & accessibility, - Measurable Payroll processing time, and visible efficiency metrics - Tax Code Downloadable - Swift Calculating Time -Trackable ratios of payroll runs completed without errors, which is crucial for maintaining accuracy. -End-to-end data flow accurately from the HR side to the payroll side (including for new starters entered, and job changes etc). This must be at 100% to ensure that 'gross to net pay' match
- HR Compliance Reporting, FE Workforce Data Collection-Staff Record Specification: -To enable the mandatory data collection to provide a technical specification and file format of the FE Workforce staff record to enable the intended audience to be able to meet the requirements for FE Workforce staff data return for the current academic year. This is an annual submission. -The FE and skills sector in England will use the FE Workforce Data Collection to collect data about staff and recruitment in the sector. This will bring the knowledge of the workforce in FE on a par with that of schools and higher education. The workforce collection will include demographic and personal characteristics, such as ethnicity and disability data, which will enable better planning and understanding of the impact of government policies on diversity in FE staffing and leadership. It will support the delivery of technical education reforms crucial to individual and national prosperity and be used to plan, implement, and evaluate FE workforce policy. In addition, it will provide the ability to assess and analyse the capacity of the FE workforce and generate valuable outputs for providers for planning, analysis, bench marking and skills gaps.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4final-stage tenders · 6 at stage one | 2 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- HEALTHBOXHR LTDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (25)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and Guidance 8 - EKC Group Response
- Signed contract Contract is partially redacted for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and Guidance Document 5 - EKC Group Response
- Bidding documents and specifications
- Bidding documents and specifications Payroll Requirements (accessible vrs) document available for download due to zip version error.
- Bidding documents and specifications An expanded list of HR System preferred features and functionality. Consider these as part of tender submission preparation.
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and Guidance Document 1 - EKC Group Response
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarification and guidance 2 - EKC Group Response
Show 5 more documents
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and guidance document 3
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and Guidance Document 4 - EKC Group Response
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and Guidance 6 - EKC Group Responses
- Bidding documents and specifications Clarifications and Guidance 6 - General Position on International participation (Suppliers outside the UK)
- Bidding documents and specifications Tender Clarifications and Guidance 7 document - EKC Group responses
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
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
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- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
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