Procurement at DfE
Bidding for Department for Education (DfE) contracts.
UK procurement law
We must follow UK laws that govern how we may buy goods, services and works over a specified value or ‘threshold’.
If we expect the estimated value of a contract to be over the relevant threshold, we must advertise our requirements on the Find a Tender service.
The Cabinet Office publishes the procurement thresholds.
Procurement Act 2023
Transforming public procurement has information about how we are improving the way we procure supplies, services and works for the public sector.
As part of these improvements, the Procurement Regulations 2024 were laid in Parliament in March 2024. The official record of the bill’s progress through Parliament is available on UK Parliament.
Information is available on the Procurement Act 2023.
Contracting opportunities
The Department for Education (DfE) does not respond to unsolicited marketing. We advertise opportunities in the following ways.
Latest contracting opportunities
We, and our executive agencies, advertise new contracting opportunities in these places, where appropriate:
- The UK e-notification service, Find a Tender
- DfE’s research page
- Contracts Finder
- specialist publications and trade, national and local press
- Jaggaer
Future opportunities
We notify suppliers of future opportunities by:
- advertising prior information notices (PIN) on the FTS website
- publishing notices on Contracts Finder
- publishing opportunities to tender on Jaggaer
- updating the Department for Education commercial pipeline data
D-U-N-S Number
All registered businesses in the UK and Ireland have a D‑U‑N‑S Number. This number provides us with valuable information about which suppliers are bidding for our contracts. Use this form to request a D-U-N-S Number if you do not have one.
Prompt payment policy
We follow government policy and pay all correctly submitted invoices within 5 days of receiving them.
Educational and Children’s Social Care Framework
The Educational and Children’s Social Care Framework (ECSC Framework) will replace the Educational and Children’s Social Care Professionals Dynamic Purchasing System (ECSC DPS) in Autumn 2024.
The ECSC Framework will be the procurement route for individual specialists, advisers and experts to support government policy in schools and local authorities.
The existing ECSC DPS will be wound down towards its current end date of March 2026, but remains active for now.
Suppliers can register their interest in the new framework by:
- registering on Jaggaer
- following the process set out in the ECSC Framework’s Contracts Finder notice
Email the commercial contact point team if you have any queries: commercial.contactpoint@education.gov.uk.
Jaggaer: the DfE etendering portal
Jaggaer is an etendering system used by DfE and its executive agencies. It is a password-protected online service.
As a potential supplier, you should register with Jaggaer so you can:
- view opportunities to tender
- submit tender responses
Terms and conditions for DfE contracts
To find out which terms and conditions apply when bidding for a particular DfE contract, contact the person named in the advertisement and tender documentation.
We usually use the following contracts:
The terms and conditions are regularly updated. We may augment them with a small number of DfE-specific terms and conditions.
Where buying from a framework, we use the corresponding Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework terms and conditions. Again, we may augment these terms with a small number of DfE-specific terms and conditions.
Purchase orders
Our purchase orders (documents that ask a company to supply goods and give details of price, method and date of payment) are subject to our .
Key performance indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts
A list of central government’s most important contracts is available. This shows up to 4 relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) and the performance of the vendor against those KPIs.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
We aim to maximise opportunities for SMEs to participate in our procurement opportunities, by:
- encouraging competition
- reducing barriers to participation
We encourage SMEs to work with us directly or as part of the supply chain by:
- having a tender process that treats SMEs fairly
- supporting commercial relationships between DfE, SMEs and larger organisations
- monitoring our SME spend and reporting to Cabinet Office for publication
Opportunities for SMEs
We advertise new opportunities on Contracts Finder.
We also run innovation days at which suppliers can meet each other and showcase what they offer. We advertise these on LinkedIn and X.
How we procure and work with SMEs
Our SME action plan outlines how DfE procures and works with SMEs.
For queries or feedback about the DfE SME action plan, email PolicyAssurance.CommercialQueries@education.gov.uk.
Find out more about the relationship between the government and small businesses from the Small Business Crown Representative, Shirley Cooper OBE.
For queries about the work of the Cabinet Office Small Business Team, email smallbusinessteam@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
Equality and diversity in procurement
All suppliers to DfE should demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity.
Public Sector Equality Duty guidance for suppliers
DfE is subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Equality Duty is relevant where we contract services that are:
- delivered on DfE premises
- carrying out a public function
- employee facing
- public or school facing
If organisations are delivering services under any of these categories, they will be under the same Equality Duty as the department. The has more information.
How we process your personal data
DfE’s personal information charter contains the standards you can expect from us when we ask for and hold your personal information.
Find out more in .