Official UK procurement notice
OpenAI Sector AI Evaluation Pilot
Authority: Jisc Services Limited (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionJSL 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 publishedProcedure 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-06ecf0Find 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.
- 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- Notice published37 days ago18 Sept 2026, 10:45 BST
- Standstill ends26 days ago29 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 26 Aug 2026- Transparency notice published26 Aug 2026, 15:54 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published18 Sept 2026, 10:45 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected30 Sept 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI OpCo, LLC1 Oct 2026 – 30 Mar 2029 | US$7,560,000 | 7 Sept 2026standstill to 29 Sept 2026 | Standstill |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- OpenAI OpCo, LLCAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender