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Find a TenderAwarded without competitionContract details notice
Published 19 Sept 2025, 17:09 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Kings College London Postgraduate Learning Offer

Official notice

Authority: Department for Education (Central government)

Direct award
Sectors: Education & Training (80) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Awarded value£731,170published award · exc. VAT
Awarded 18 Sept 2025no call for competition
Awarded to Kings College London3 awards

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This Direct Award is to King's College London for the delivery of the King's College London Postgraduate Learning Offer (KCL PGL2) from January 2026. This will include enrolment on standalone modules up until July 2027, with the final enrolment point for the postgraduate certificate/ diploma in March 2027. Designed with the UK Civil Service, the KCL PGL2 is designed for mid-career civil servants, to support their development at level 2 of the policy profession standards. This offer is designed to be flexible and modular.

This direct award aims to provide learners continuity of service and provision, ensuring that there is no break in our ability to deliver mid-career accredited learning whilst we undertake a full procurement. If this Direct Award were not to proceed, we would have a gap in learning provision at this level, as KCL are the only supplier available to provide flexible, modular learning explicitly aligned to the policy profession standards. Proceeding via a direct award is the favourable option in comparison to other available contracting vehicles , as it represents a significant saving in comparison to the current per student cost

The Direct Award will also allow us to undertake a full procurement exercise for delivery of Accredited Learning from September 2027, allowing us to test the requirements of the policy profession against the wider higher education market

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Awarded
80300000 Higher education services

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
19 Sept 2025, 17:09 BST
Last source update
5 Jan 2026, 15:39 GMT
Authority reference
project_10124
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-000407
Latest notice
Contract details notice (UK7)
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-059e77 Find a Tender
Why no open competition
Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
Published justification

KCL is the only supplier that could deliver the conclusion of 2025 diploma cohort without disruption to learners, due to the conclusion of the Learning Frameworks Termination Assistance Period. Due to recruitment timelines (beginning October 2025), it will be impossible to have a new supplier in place for the delivery of the January 2026 cohort. A quotation from the supplier indicates an estimated saving of £145,070 across government when compared to the learning framework, based off historic average student volumes. This extension would allow time for us to test requirements against the open market through a full procurement exercise.

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

30 Sept 2025 → 5 Jan 2026 · 2 dates
  1. Standstill ends381 days ago
    30 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
  2. Notice published285 days ago
    5 Jan 2026, 15:39 GMT

Notice history

6 events · 5 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 Sept 2025
  1. Transparency notice published
    19 Sept 2025, 17:09 BST
    UK5
  2. Contract award notice published
    19 Sept 2025, 17:15 BST
    UK6
  3. Contract award notice published
    2 Oct 2025, 12:44 BST
    UK6
  4. Contract signature expected
    10 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
    scheduled
  5. Contract details notice published
    5 Jan 2026, 15:38 GMT
    UK7
  6. Contract details notice published
    5 Jan 2026, 15:39 GMT
    UK7
Routine re-releases (5)
  • 2025-09: 2 releases · 19 Sept 2025, 19 Sept 2025

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 3some still in standstill
Awarded value £731,1701 award exc. VAT
Contracts signed 2latest 12 Dec 2025
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Kings College LondonPost Graduate Award in Policy Government Policy Fast Stream10 Oct 2025 – 31 May 2028 · up to 31 May 2029Extensions: Optional extension if an additional cohort needs to be onboarded to this contract if frameworks are unavailable£731,17018 Sept 2025standstill to 30 Sept 2025Standstill
Kings College London——Awarded
Kings College London——Awarded

Contracts

  • Contract 2 · Kings College London

    Signed
    12 Dec 2025
    Value
    £731,170
    Period
    27 Dec 2025 – 31 Mar 2028 · up to 31 Mar 2029 with extensions
    Status
    active
    Extensions
    Authority may extend the Contract for a further period of up to twelve (12) calendar months to enable the delivery of services to an additional cohort of learners.
    3 agreed KPIs: Social value: Public Accessibility of Academic Expertise · Survey satisfaction score · Course Completion Rate
    • Social value: Public Accessibility of Academic Expertise, Number of public facing academic events hosted or delivered annually. Measurement: Annually reported by the supplier
    • Survey satisfaction score, Average satisfaction score from postgraduate learners (via Evasys surveys) Annually reported by the supplier
    • Course Completion Rate, Measures the percentage of enrolled postgraduate students who successfully complete the course Within the agreed timeframe. Annually reported by the supplier

  • Contract 3 · Kings College London

    Signed
    4 Dec 2025
    Value
    £2,751,328
    Period
    4 Dec 2025 – 31 Jul 2027
    Status
    active
    3 agreed KPIs: Social value: Public Accessibility of Academic Expertise · Survey satisfaction score · Course Completion Rate
    • Social value: Public Accessibility of Academic Expertise, Number of public facing academic events hosted or delivered annually. Measurement: Annually reported by the supplier
    • Survey satisfaction score, Average satisfaction score from postgraduate learners (via Evasys surveys) Annually reported by the supplier
    • Course Completion Rate, Measures the percentage of enrolled postgraduate students who successfully complete the coursewithin the agreed timeframe. Annually reported by the supplier

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Department for Education

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDZG-3487-DPVD Sanctuary Buildings, 20 Great Smith Street, London, London, SW1P3BTContact email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • Kings College LondonAwarded supplierGB-COH: RC000297 Kings College London, Strand, London, London, WC2R 2LSContact email

Official documents & specifications (5)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Contract details notice contractContract details noticeUK7Contract details notice on Find a Tender
  • Contract details notice contractContract details noticeUK7Contract details notice on Find a Tender
  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender