Official UK procurement notice
DE - Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) - Confidential Typesetting Services
Authority: Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (Central government)·On behalf of: CPD
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment ("the Buyer") requires a Supplier for the provision of Confidential Typesetting Services. The Supplier will be required to typeset confidential materials that will be used in and/or to support examinations and assessments. The content of the work may include, however is not limited too - standard prose typesetting, specialist typesetting (i.e. mathematical, scientific, languages), Irish medium, modified versions, scanning of illustrations (and potential re-work), drawing and/or redrawing of illustrations, and creation of barcodes (for question papers marked on-line) and other support materials, where required.
CPV: Digital printing services · Education and training services · Printing and delivery services · Printing and distribution services · Printing services · Services related to printing · Typesetting services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£583,333
- Economic & financial standing
As per Tender documentation.
- Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
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 (5)
- AC1 Proposed Methodology: 29.25%
- AC2 Personnel Experience: 14.95%
- AC3 Contract Management and Contingency: 10.4%
- AC5 Cost: 35%
- AC4 Social Value – Promoting Wellbeing: 10.4%
Published award criteria (5)
- AC1 Proposed Methodology: As per Tender documentation
- AC2 Personnel Experience: As per Tender documentation
- AC3 Contract Management and Contingency: As per Tender documentation
- AC4 Social Value – Promoting Wellbeing: As per Tender documentation
- AC5 Cost: As per Tender documentation
- Economic & financial standing
As per Tender documentation.
- Technical & professional ability
As per Tender documentation.
- Price carries 35 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3.5 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
- 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
- 5 Aug 2025, 14:00 BST
- Last source update
- 8 Oct 2025, 15:18 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 1 Oct 2025
- Authority reference
5940214- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-046137- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05818aFind a Tender- Contract terms summary
As per tender documentation. The estimated value figure indicated in the Scope Section represents an overall estimated contract value. This value reflects the potential scale of the contract and takes into account potential optional extension periods and the uptake of potential optional services as detailed in the tender documents. This figure does not however take into account the application of indexation or increases to charges due to increases in the Real Living Wage. Neither CPD nor the contracting Authority can provide any guarantee as to the level of business under this contract. The Contracting Authority does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender. Suppliers remain responsible for all costs and expenses incurred by them or by any third party acting under instructions from the Supplier in connection with taking part in this procurement process regardless of whether such costs arise as a consequence, directly or indirectly of any amendments made to the procurement documents by the Contracting Authority at any time. No legally binding contract shall arise (and a Supplier shall have no legitimate expectation that a contract will be entered into) until such time as entry into the Contract has been confirmed by the Contracting Authority.
- Risks
If at any time during the procurement, or post award, it comes to the attention of the Contracting Authority (CA) or CPD, by whatever means, that a Supplier has become ‘excluded’ or ‘excludable’ as per Sec 57 of the PA 2023, the CA, after compliance with its obligations under the PA 23, reserves the right to exclude said Supplier from the procurement procedure or terminate any contract they have been awarded.
Insert appropriate reservations of rights and disclaimers of liability here consider - e.g.
The Contracting Authority expressly reserves the rights:
(I). not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice;
(II). to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the tendering Competition;
(III). to award (a) contract(s) in respect of any part(s) of the [services] covered by this notice; and
(IV). to award contract(s) in stages.
and in no circumstances will the Authority be liable for any costs incurred by candidates.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 4 Sept 2025, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 25 Aug 2025, 15:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders must be submitted electronically via the relevant Call for Tender (CfT) opportunity on eTendersNI, website details immediately below.
Paper submissions will not be accepted or considered and will be rejected by the Contracting Authority / Buyer.
The tender documents are available with unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: URL etendersni.gov.uk/epps ↗
Timeline
5 Aug 2025 → 25 Oct 2025 · 8 dates- Tender notice published5 Aug 2025, 14:00 BST
- Clarification questions by25 Aug 2025, 15:00 BST
- Submission deadline4 Sept 2025, 15:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent386 days ago25 Sept 2025, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by379 days ago1 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Standstill ends374 days ago6 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published372 days ago8 Oct 2025, 15:18 BST
- Contract starts356 days ago25 Oct 2025, 00:00 BST
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 Aug 2025- Tender notice published5 Aug 2025, 14:00 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published25 Sept 2025, 11:43 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete25 Sept 2025, 11:43 BST
- Contract details notice published8 Oct 2025, 15:18 BSTUK7
- Contract signature expected8 Oct 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALCHEMY DESIGN & TRAINING LTDSME +1 morejoint awardID 5940214 - DE - Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) - Confidential Typesetting Services8 Oct 2025 – 7 Oct 2027 · up to 7 Oct 2029Extensions: Following the initial contract period, there are two potential extension periods of up to twelve months each. Optional extension periods will be subject to review and satisfactory performance assessment by the Contracting Authority. | £583,333 | 25 Sept 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
ID 5940214 - DE - Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) - Confidential Typesetting Services · ALCHEMY DESIGN & TRAINING LTDSME +1 more
- Signed
- 7 Oct 2025
- Value
- £583,333
- Period
- 8 Oct 2025 – 7 Oct 2027 · up to 7 Oct 2029 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- Following the initial contract period, there are two potential extension periods of up to twelve months each. Optional extension periods will be subject to review and satisfactory performance assessment by the Contracting Authority.
No agreed KPIs: not applicable due to contract value.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2final-stage tenders | 2 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
3 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- CPDBeneficiary authority
- CPD - Supplies & Services DivisionProcess contact pointProcuring entityConstruction and Procurement Delivery - Supplies and Services Division, is a Centre of Procurement Expertise and provides a central procurement function for central government in Northern Ireland
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- ALCHEMY DESIGN & TRAINING LTDAwarded supplier
- ALCHEMY DESIGN & TRAINING LTDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices 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