Official UK procurement notice
Online Payments · UK public procurement notice
Authority: The Education Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe EA invites tenders for a Provision of an Online Payment Solution. The scope of this procurement is to provide an accessible, secure Online Payment Solution (OLP) for schools, minimising the need for and risks and costs associated with cash handling in these schools. The legacy process of schools receiving monies from parents is one that involves sending cash or cheques with pupils to school. Payments cover a range of items and activities e.g. school meals, milk, school trips, clubs, and equipment purchase. The OLP system will facilite usage by parents to pay for a range of activities for the duration of the Contract. The Contract will be valid for a period of five years, with the option to extend for period / s up to 24 months, subject to funding. At the time of tender issue (June 2026) there is no formal EA wide contract to provide online payment facilities to the schools by the EA, however, some schools have independently procured and implemented their own solutions over recent years. This Contract is let by the Northern Ireland Education Authority (“EA”) and is open to the EA, including the NI educational bodies listed below. At some point during the life of the Contract these bodies may wish to utilise the Contract (though they are not obligated to do so) and must have access, at any point, with the permission of EA. This Contract is not intended to replace any current agreements that participating or non-participating institutions may already have in place. These bodies include; Primary, Post Primary and Special schools under the control of the EA, Catholic Maintained Schools, Independent Schools in NI, Irish Medium Schools in NI, both Controlled and Voluntary Grammar Schools, Nursery School for NI (both controlled and Catholic Maintained) (www.education-ni.gov.uk/services/schools-plus ↗)
- Not divided into lots: Responses to the preliminary market engagement exercise indicated a strong competitive market for a single Online Payments System
CPV: IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support · Software package and information systems · Support services of personal computers
How this dynamic market works
From the published notice- Type
- Dynamic market
- Market period
- 5 yrs · up to 7 yrs from 8 Jan 2027
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£15,000,000
- Economic & financial standing
N/A
- Technical & professional ability
The conditions of participation relating to technical ability are contained in the procurement document “EdiS-25-003 Specific Tender Instructions and Assessment Methodology”.
EA will assess responses to the conditions of participation relating to technical ability in accordance with the scoring method and scoring matrix provided within the procurement document in reation to question CoP 1 Capability and Expertise.
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 (8)
- AC1 Implementation: 12%
- AC2 Integration: 8%
- AC3 Reporting: 2%
- AC4 Testing: 5%
- AC5 Training: 5%
- AC6 Ongoing Support: 8%
- AC8 Price: 50%
- AC7 Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (8)
- AC1 Implementation
- AC2 Integration
- AC3 Reporting
- AC4 Testing
- AC5 Training
- AC6 Ongoing Support
- AC7 Social Value
- AC8 Price
- Economic & financial standing
N/A
- Technical & professional ability
The conditions of participation relating to technical ability are contained in the procurement document “EdiS-25-003 Specific Tender Instructions and Assessment Methodology”.
EA will assess responses to the conditions of participation relating to technical ability in accordance with the scoring method and scoring matrix provided within the procurement document in reation to question CoP 1 Capability and Expertise.
- Price carries 50 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 5 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
- “Online Payments” is a dynamic market: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
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
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Dynamic market
- Who may use this agreement
- Any qualifying supplier may apply while the market is open
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 17 Apr 2026, 17:15 BST
- Last source update
- 7 Aug 2026, 12:19 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 30 Nov 2026
- Authority reference
EDIS-25-003- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-057787- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0685c1Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
Payment Milestones will be structured around a combination of fixed and activity-based milestones, reflecting the phased implementation approach and the variable nature of supplier revenues linked to the uptake of the Online Payment System.
Initial milestones for Technical Set-up and Implementation, and Non-Technical Set-up and Implementation (for the Pilot Phase), will be delivered over defined periods from contract commencement and costs paid following completion of the Satisfaction Certificate by the Buyer (please refer to Mid Tier Schedule 8 Implementation Plan and Testing).
Following completion of the pilot phase, payment milestones will transition to a recurring quarterly model (Quarterly Online Payment Solution Uptake & Payment Milestone) aligned to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Implementation Plan as outlined in section 6 of the Specification of Requirements. These milestones are linked to the number of schools onboarded in each quarterly period and will be paid based on the costs provided within the Financial Response.
Suppliers should note that, due to the demand-led and variable nature of onboarding schools to the Online Payment System, payments will be proportionate to actual uptake achieved.
- Risks
This is a new Contract for EA, and at the time of tender issue (June 2026) there is no formal EA wide contract to provide online payment facilities to the schools by the EA, however, some schools have independently procured and implemented their own solutions over recent years. EA has limited access to that data, and the tender value has been estimated based upon the notional data within the Financial Response document. As such, demand on the Contract may be greater or less than the value estimate provided. The Buyer cannot guarantee any level of business but reserves the right to increase the value of the Contract should demand on the Contract be greater than estimated, either in relation to usage, transaction fees or any other demand led cost under the Contract.
Suppliers should note that, due to the demand-led and variable nature of onboarding schools to the Online Payment System, payments will be proportionate to actual uptake achieved.
How it was run
Official notice- Admission period ends
- 28 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 4 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tender must be submitted electronically via the following; etendersni.gov.uk ↗
Timeline
17 Apr 2026 → 8 Jan 2027 · 8 dates- Planning notice published192 days ago17 Apr 2026, 17:15 BST
- Market engagement170 days ago8 May 2026, 23:59 BST
The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI), in preparation for a procurement
process, wish to engage with the market to seek supplier views and feedback on potential
approaches for an Online Payment System.
Suppliers who wish to participate in the pre market engagement exercise should complete
the pre-market engagement questionnaire on eTendersNI under the CfT CA Unique ID
EANI-5236.
Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from the CfT
Documents section of the project on eTendersNI. Suppliers also have the opportunity to
submit queries regarding the project via the eTendersNI messaging function.
The questionnaire must be completed and submitted no later than 3 pm 08th May 2026
There are no documents to be completed other than the questionnaire.
Any information gathered through this market consultation exercise will inform internal
business planning and any possible subsequent procurement process and will NOT be
appraised in any future tender evaluation exercise. Please note that participation or
nonparticipation in this preliminary market consultation exercise shall not prevent any
supplier from participating in any potential procurement process, nor is it intended that any information supplied shall place any supplier at an advantage or disadvantage in any
forthcoming procurement process.
For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of a
formal procurement process.
- Tender notice published130 days ago18 Jun 2026, 18:44 BST
- Clarification questions by83 days ago4 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST
- Latest notice published80 days ago7 Aug 2026, 12:19 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends59 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown28 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST
- Today26 Oct 2026
- Award decision expected byin 36 days30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 74 days8 Jan 2027
Notice history
8 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Apr 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Apr 2026, 17:15 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published18 Jun 2026, 18:44 BSTUK4
- Published value updated to £15,000,00018 Jun 2026, 18:44 BSTwas £4,300,000
- Status changed to active18 Jun 2026, 18:44 BST
- Procurement method changed18 Jun 2026, 18:44 BST
- Deadline published: 14 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST18 Jun 2026, 18:44 BST
- Tender notice published7 Aug 2026, 12:19 BSTUK4
- Deadline moved to 28 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST7 Aug 2026, 12:19 BST+14 days · was 14 Aug 2026, 15:00 BST
Published amendments (1)
The Education Authority wishes to advise all interested suppliers that the original tender submission deadline has been extended. The deadline for receipt of tender submissions has been extended until the 28 August 2026 at 15:00 (BST). The deadline for receipt of tender clarifications has also been extended until the 19 August 2026 at 15:00 (BST).
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender