Official UK procurement notice
Invitation to Tender for Item Writing Service Framework for Standards and Testing Agency
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
The Department of Education, the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), is inviting potential suppliers to submit their bids for the new 2025-2029 Item Writing Services Framework. As part of the test development process, the STA, on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE), is seeking to appoint suppliers experienced in item writing to support the development of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 National Curriculum tests. There is an option to extend the framework term for up to 12 months, until August 2030. Published service areas include: Item writing; Informal item trialling; Reviewing, refining and amending items; Item classification; Design (items and texts); Text searching / sourcing (English reading); Reviewing texts (English reading); Text selection (English reading)/Context selection (science); Text trialling (English reading); Informal item and text trialling (English reading); Printing to meet handover or trialling requirements; Developing mark schemes; Developing coding…
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department of Education, the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), is inviting potential suppliers to submit their bids for the new 2025-2029 Item Writing Services Framework.
CPV: Education and training services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Places
- up to 6 suppliers
- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 1 Sept 2025
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£2,500,000
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).
- “Invitation to Tender for Item Writing Service Framework for Standards…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 6 suppliers, not a single contract.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive procedure with negotiation
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Past planning notice
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 11 Feb 2025, 11:49 GMT
- Last source update
- 11 Feb 2025, 11:49 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- 4 Aug 2025 – …
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-004513- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04dd9bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 30 Apr 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission","written"}
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
11 Feb 2025 → 1 Sept 2025 · 3 dates- Notice published11 Feb 2025, 11:49 GMT
- Admission / appointment period endsperiod end, not a bid countdown30 Apr 2025, 12:00 BST
- Contract starts1 Sept 2025, 00:00 BST
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
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Royal Courts of JusticeReview body
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.