Official UK procurement notice
Standards and Testing Agency - Statutory reading assessment in Key Stage 3 - Engagement opportunity
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE) responsible for developing and delivering national curriculum assessments in England. Following the 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review, the DfE has committed to delivering a new statutory reading assessment in Key Stage 3 by 2028/2029.
The purpose of this notice is to inform the market of the STA’s intention to undertake early, explorative market engagement. STA is considering and open to a range of delivery models and will be arranging 1:1s with interested and capable organisations to discuss potential delivery approaches with the market.
These sessions will provide an opportunity for dialogue with organisations to discuss the possibilities for the development and delivery of this test within the planned timeframe. Any information regarding feasibility, timescales and a broad indication of the level of contract spend is extremely helpful for us at this stage. Discussion around potential delivery models will also help to inform the direction of this work.
1:1 meetings will be held w/c 30th March. Slots for the 1:1s will be available to sign up to immediately via Jaggaer.
There may be an opportunity to open further sessions in the w/c 13th April if all slots are filled in the first week.
For further details and to arrange a 1:1 please express your interest in this via the Jaggaer portal www.education.app.jaggaer.com ↗
CPV: Administrative educational services · Education and training services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Education buys Administrative services of agencies (CPV 7512), and who usually turns up
Department for Education’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Administrative services of agencies (CPV 7512) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in Greater London (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered outside Greater London.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 49 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid9% / 20%
2–334% / 40%
4–625% / 33%
7+32% / 7%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate40% / 58%
Within ±2%49% / 42%
Above estimate11% / 0%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 7512No real estimate
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 15 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid20%
2–340%
4–633%
7+7%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 18 Mar 2026, 16:57 GMT
- Last source update
- 18 Mar 2026, 16:57 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-024840- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-066e22Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
18 Mar 2026 → 19 Jan 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published217 days ago18 Mar 2026, 16:57 GMT
- Market engagement208 days ago27 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
Please apply via the Jaggaer portal - Click "view Opportunities" create an account if needed, then select this opportunity to apply.
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 362 days18 Oct 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts19 Jan 2028
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published18 Mar 2026, 16:57 GMTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender