Official UK procurement notice
UK2 - Preliminary market engagement notice
Authority: Department for Education (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionIn 2025, the department appointed Social Finance, the lead organisation of a consortium which included Data to Insight, Coram, ICT Revolutions and the Local Government Association to scope and design a Centre of Excellence for Children’s Social Care (CSC) Data and Digital; this was known as Phase 1. The Centre will help local authorities (LAs) improve their data and digital maturity with respect to CSC services. The consortium engaged with LAs and wider sector stakeholders to identify opportunities, challenges and risks related to CSC data and digital work. It produced recommendations and a delivery plan to support delivery and scale-up in Phase 2.
We are seeking a supplier (or consortium) who can deliver the action/delivery plan (from Phase 1) for the Centre of Excellence for CSC Data and Digital (Phase 2). They will need to demonstrate the following:
- Deep understanding of LA CSC delivery, and the data and digital functions that support it.
- An established, active and wide-reaching network into LA children’s services (CSC specifically), built through ongoing participation in sector networks, particularly data and/or digital.
- Strong technical knowledge of current and future systems capabilities for:
o children’s services data storage, movement, and processing, and
o user experience for social work/practitioner recording and case management.
- Ability to provide specialist data and digital skills support to specific projects within LAs, with a clear “exit” approach—i.e. leaving the LA in a more sustainable position post-delivery.
- Have the capacity and capability to mobilise and deliver the action plan from in Phase 1. This will include maintaining and improving shared sector resources, strengthening technology markets, enabling safe and effective information sharing, developing the workforce and organisational capability, connecting partners across the sector, and supporting delivery of proven change.
We will conduct early market engagement to present our requirements for the proposed procurement. This session will allow us to understand the interest in the market for delivery.
After the event, suppliers will be invited to complete a survey to provide feedback that will support our proposals for this work.
*Please be aware that registration is for the Market Engagement Event only. This event does not signify the commencement of any procurement process and does not constitute any commitment by the Department for Education. This is NOT an invitation to tender for a contract opportunity and any suppliers invited to the event will not have a privileged position in relation to any future contract opportunity. Any subsequent procurement(s) that DfE conducts will be based on the fair and objective outcome of a procurement process.*
The DfE is keen to maximise opportunities to participate in procurement for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs). Consideration will also be given to consortia and collaborative bids from all forms of organisations.
CPV: Social work and related services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department for Education buys Social work and related services (CPV 8530), and who usually turns up
Department for Education’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Social work and related services (CPV 8530) →
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.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 50 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% / 22%
2–335% / 36%
4–624% / 26%
7+31% / 17%
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 estimate39% / 22%
Within ±2%50% / 70%
Above estimate11% / 7%
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 8530Published estimate£5.4m
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 338 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid22%
2–336%
4–626%
7+17%
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
- 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
- 24 Apr 2026, 10:56 BST
- Last source update
- 24 Apr 2026, 10:56 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-037461- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068a78Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
24 Apr 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 4 dates- Planning notice published183 days ago24 Apr 2026, 10:56 BST
- Market engagement147 days ago29 May 2026, 23:59 BST
This will consist of an online event held on Microsoft Teams which will take place on 20 May 2026 between 10:00 – 11:00. If you are interested in attending this event, please contact the mailbox - [email protected] and an online invitation will be issued in due course. We intend to share the questions and answers from the events with all potential suppliers.
Organisations interested in attending must register for an account on Jaggaer before expressing an interest in this opportunity. Access to the system is available via the Department’s e tendering portal – Jaggaer - education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ↗. Once registered, please navigate to the “Current Opportunities” section and search for:
- Project_ 10396
or
- SSQ_ 763
Once you have located the opportunity, please confirm your interest within Jaggaer.
The next step is to reserve a place at the event using the Jaggaer message facility. When doing so, please include:
- Confirmation that you wish to join the event
- Your organisation’s name
- The name(s) of attendee(s)
- Email address(es) of attendee(s)
- Each attendee’s role within your organisation
A Teams calendar invitation with joining instructions will then be issued via Jaggaer.
Please ensure the invitation is shared with all nominated attendees.
- Tender notice expected114 days ago1 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts23 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Apr 2026, 10:56 BSTUK2
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