Official UK procurement notice
Top Apprenticeship Employer Rankings 26-27
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe DfE is seeking to engage parties who are interested in bidding to deliver Top Apprenticeship Employer Rankings for 2026 and 2027.
The DfE are looking for an end-to-end Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer (and Top 50 SME employers) - Entries & Administration supplier, that includes:
- Management of Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer rankings.
- Confirm entry criteria and application process.
- Quality assurance of all entries and across the whole application process.
- Compile final rankings and all associated resources.
- Analyse and prepare detailed evaluation and data reports.
- Design and Management of content and celebration events.
- Develop and deliver 2-year activities, research, and benchmarking reports.
- Develop and deliver webinars for employers and individuals and support promotional activities.
The DfE undertook an open procurement to search for a suitable supplier for the contract. RMP Enterprise Limited have been awarded as the successful bidder.
CPV: Event services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£316,667
- Economic & financial standing
Suppliers must demonstrate that they have the legal and financial capacity to perform the contract. This includes:
Being a legally registered entity with the authority to enter into a contract.
Not being subject to any mandatory exclusion grounds under the Procurement Act 2023.
Demonstrating financial stability by completing the relevant sections of the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) provided in the eTendering Portal.
These conditions are assessed on a pass/fail basis and are proportionate to the nature and value of the contract.
- Technical & professional ability
A detailed service specification outlining the full scope, requirements, and expectations of this contract is available via the eTendering Portal. Interested suppliers must review this document in full before submitting a response, as it forms a key part of the procurement documentation.
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 (7)
- Objectives: 5%
- Quality Assurance: 12.5%
- Delivery & Project Management: 12.5%
- Resources: 10%
- Presentation: 20%
- Commercial Evaluation: 30%
- Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (7)
- Commercial Evaluation: For the Commercial Envelope, bidders are asked to complete the Excel attachment within titled “Pricing Schedule”. This must be completed fully for your bid to be considered.
- Objectives
- Quality Assurance
- Delivery & Project Management
- Resources
- Social Value
- Presentation
- Economic & financial standing
Suppliers must demonstrate that they have the legal and financial capacity to perform the contract. This includes:
Being a legally registered entity with the authority to enter into a contract.
Not being subject to any mandatory exclusion grounds under the Procurement Act 2023.
Demonstrating financial stability by completing the relevant sections of the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) provided in the eTendering Portal.
These conditions are assessed on a pass/fail basis and are proportionate to the nature and value of the contract.
- Technical & professional ability
A detailed service specification outlining the full scope, requirements, and expectations of this contract is available via the eTendering Portal. Interested suppliers must review this document in full before submitting a response, as it forms a key part of the procurement documentation.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
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
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- 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
- 8 Aug 2025, 14:22 BST
- Last source update
- 24 Mar 2026, 13:27 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 10 Nov 2025
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-054716- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05843fFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 3 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 19 Sept 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗
The procurement will take place on the DfE Jaggaer system. Please register an account and search for ITT_3681 where the procurement documents will be stored and your tender response can be submitted.
Timeline
8 Aug 2025 → 24 Mar 2026 · 10 dates- Planning notice published8 Aug 2025, 14:22 BST
- Market engagement15 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
This is a notice seeking early engagement from interested parties in relation to the Department for Education Top Apprenticeship Employer rankings 2026 and 2027.
Please note that all references to procedure, value and term length are purely illustrative and subject to change.
The Top Apprenticeship Employers rankings form an integral part of a three-point employer and stakeholder celebration strategy (alongside National Apprenticeship Week and National Apprenticeship and Skills Awards), to ensure a continual drumbeat of celebratory activity throughout the calendar year. The rankings, now in their fourth year, support wider government and departmental priorities for upskilling the nation and increasing the prestige of apprenticeships. The Top Apprenticeship Employers helps develop a recognition and resonance with employers and students of apprenticeships. This helps support access and progression and helps to increase consideration of skills across all audiences and influencers.
The key objectives of the Top Apprenticeship Employers rankings are to:
- Celebrate and promote outstanding apprenticeship employers, through significant high-profile publicity of the rankings and listed employers.
- Encourage employers more widely to improve the quality of their apprentice offer, through feedback, best practice sharing and case studies.
- Help potential apprentices and parents easily find high performing employers offering apprenticeships, through employer publicity, improved relationships with careers advisors, Careers and Enterprise Company and Amazing Apprenticeships.
The DfE is seeking to engage parties who are interested in bidding to deliver Top Apprenticeship Employer Rankings for 2026 and 2027.
Please note that this notice is for early market engagement and exploratory purposes and is not a call for competition. The Department reserves the right not to enter any formal processes or agreements. Accordingly, the authority will not be liable for any bid cost, expenditure, work, or effort incurred by a provider in acting based on this notice.
The DfE shall be hosting a virtual event on Thursday 14th August 2025 at 10:00 to discuss the vision for the scheme for 2026 and 2027 and would like to encourage any parties who are interested in contributing to the success of a future scheme to register for this event. To do so, please register for the event at: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/1edc1e9e-6f57-… ↗
- Tender notice published8 Sept 2025, 15:03 BST
- Clarification questions by392 days ago19 Sept 2025, 17:00 BST
- Submission deadline378 days ago3 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent341 days ago10 Nov 2025
- Award decision expected by340 days ago10 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Standstill ends325 days ago25 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts320 days ago1 Dec 2025
- Latest notice published207 days ago24 Mar 2026, 13:27 GMT
Notice history
12 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 8 Aug 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published8 Aug 2025, 14:22 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published8 Sept 2025, 15:03 BSTUK4
- Published value updated to £316,6678 Sept 2025, 15:03 BSTwas £316,667
- Status changed to active8 Sept 2025, 15:03 BST
- Procurement method changed8 Sept 2025, 15:03 BST
- Deadline published: 3 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST8 Sept 2025, 15:03 BST
- Tender notice published8 Sept 2025, 15:11 BSTUK4
- Tender notice published8 Sept 2025, 15:13 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published14 Nov 2025, 09:28 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete14 Nov 2025, 09:28 GMT
- Contract signature expected28 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published24 Mar 2026, 13:27 GMTUK7
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2025-09: 2 releases · 8 Sept 2025, 8 Sept 2025
- 2025-08: 1 release · 8 Aug 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| RMP Enterprise Limited t/a HigherinSME +1 morejoint awardTop Apprenticeship Employer rankings 2026-271 Dec 2025 – 30 Nov 2027 | £316,666 | 10 Nov 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Top Apprenticeship Employer rankings 2026-27 - con_28977 · RMP Enterprise Limited t/a HigherinSME +1 more
- Signed
- 25 Feb 2026
- Value
- £316,666
- Period
- 25 Feb 2026 – 30 Nov 2027
- Status
- active
No agreed KPIs: Procurement in below the threshold. "Above threshold" value had been incorrectly selected upon publication of original notice.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2final-stage tenders | 2 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- RMP Enterprise LimitedAwarded supplier
- RMP Enterprise LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (7)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- 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