Find a TenderAwarded without competitionContract award notice
Published 26 Aug 2026, 15:54 BST

Official UK procurement notice

OpenAI Sector AI Evaluation Pilot

Official notice

Authority: Jisc Services Limited (Public body)

Direct award
Sectors: Software Packages & ERP (48)IT Services & Software (72) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Budget not disclosedValue not published
Award in standstill 7 Sept 2026no call for competition
Award (standstill) to OpenAI OpCo, LLC

What is being bought

Published requirement description

JSL has concluded negotiations with the supplier and now intends to sign a contract, pending the observation of the required 8 working day standstill period.

The provision of a time-limited evaluation service comprising access to OpenAI's proprietary enterprise AI environment, including ChatGPT Edu, OpenAI models, APIs, GPTs and associated enterprise platform capabilities. The evaluation includes ChatGPT Edu, Codex, OpenAI proprietary models, APIs, GPTs, agentic and research capabilities, enterprise administration and governance functionality, security controls, data residency options, support arrangements and associated services made available within the contracted OpenAI environment during the evaluation period.

This evaluation will be made available to multiple UK further and higher education institutions with Jisc facilitating a coordinated, sector-wide approach that enables participation on consistent terms.

The objective of this evaluation is to generate evidence on the onboarding, engagement needs, adoption, governance, security, technical integration, institutional value, commercial models and consumption of OpenAI's first-party AI environment across institutions with different underlying cloud, productivity, identity, data and application estates.

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Direct award
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Notice status
Awarded without competition
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Direct award (no call for competition)
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
26 Aug 2026, 15:54 BST
Last source update
18 Sept 2026, 10:45 BST
Authority reference
Proc2992
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-088540
Latest notice
Contract award notice (UK6)
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ecf0 Find a Tender
Why no open competition
Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights; Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
Published justification

As these capabilities are owned and operated exclusively by OpenAI and are not available from other providers, the contracting authority considers that the requirement engages exclusive rights within the meaning of Schedule 5, paragraph 5. In addition, because the purpose of the contract is to evaluate OpenAI's specific proprietary environment, alternative AI providers would constitute materially different services and would not meet the defined requirement; accordingly, there is an absence of reasonable competition for technical reasons within the meaning of Schedule 5, paragraph 6.

Review and risk notes
Risks

Caveat to contract value. The figure indicated has been extrapolated from data and intelligence research based on a single cohort of orders, and is a high estimate of possible spend.

Similarly, the contract start and end dates are also estimates based upon an expected series of cohort intakes and are subject to change.

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

18 Sept 2026 → 29 Sept 2026 · 2 dates
  1. Notice published37 days ago
    18 Sept 2026, 10:45 BST
  2. Standstill ends26 days ago
    29 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 26 Aug 2026
  1. Transparency notice published
    26 Aug 2026, 15:54 BST
    UK5
  2. Contract award notice published
    18 Sept 2026, 10:45 BST
    UK6
  3. Contract signature expected
    30 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
    scheduled

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded toValueDateStatus
OpenAI OpCo, LLC1 Oct 2026 – 30 Mar 2029US$7,560,0007 Sept 2026standstill to 29 Sept 2026Standstill

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

JISC SERVICES LIMITED

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-COH: 02881024 · GB-PPON: PZZC-9926-PRNM 4 Portwall Lane, Bristol, South West, BS1 6NBContact email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • OpenAI OpCo, LLCAwarded supplierGB-PPON: PTHP-4293-NPBX 1455 3rd Street, San Francisco, US, CA 94158, USContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender