Planning

Technical Assessment of Home Learning Environment Early Years applications

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

07 Mar 2019 at 09:11

Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Education (DfE) in London is initiating a procurement process titled "Technical Assessment of Home Learning Environment Early Years Applications." This process, currently in the planning stage, focuses on procuring services to assess the quality of early years apps to aid parents in making informed choices for educational resources. Key milestones include an engagement end date of 14th March 2019, with the Expression of Interest (EOI) phase opening in late March and the indicative contract award scheduled for May 2019. The procurement falls under the IT services category, specifically consulting and software development, and will encompass a wide geographic area, including the UK and overseas territories.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses specialising in digital applications, particularly those with expertise in educational technology and quality assurance. Companies equipped to comply with external technical standards such as GDPR and security protocols would be well-positioned to participate. The DfE is particularly interested in engaging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) that can demonstrate a successful track record in app assessment and development. With a focus on enhancing early childhood education, this initiative may foster partnerships aimed at delivering high-quality educational resources to disadvantaged families.

Find more tenders on our Open Data Platform.
How relevant is this notice?

D3 Tenders Premium

Win More Public Sector Contracts

AI-powered tender discovery, pipeline management, and market intelligence — everything you need to grow your public sector business.

Notice Title

Technical Assessment of Home Learning Environment Early Years applications

Notice Description

The Department for Education (DfE) intends to undertake an Expression of Interest (EOI) process to procure the services of an organisation to undertake the technical assessment of the quality assurance exercise for the Early Years Applications. The Department will be running a quality assurance exercise to identify and provide an indication of quality for early years apps of high educational value, so that parents can make more informed choices when selecting apps for their children. We have established an educational expert panel, who are responsible for drawing up the criteria for educational quality in early years literacy, language and communication apps. These criteria will be used to assess apps and award an indication of quality to all those meeting the standard. In addition, we are looking to procure expertise to develop a technical framework against which to assess apps. The chosen supplier will be responsible for assessing whether apps that have been approved by the educational expert panel are also in adherence to certain technical external standards such as GDPR and security standards. The formation of this technical framework will be developed in conjunction with the educational quality criteria by spring/summer 2019. Once both sets of criteria have been established there will be an open invitation in the spring to app developers and promoters to submit their apps for consideration and the chosen supplier will be required to complete the technical assessment of apps by early summer. We would expect the chosen supplier to be able to demonstrate a strong record of achievement in reviewing the technical standards of digital apps in either education or another field. If you would like to express an interest in our requirement please email EarlyYears.APPS@education.gov.uk by 14th March 2019. Additional information: DfE will administer the procurement process electronically via the government Contract Finder. No hard copy documents will be issued; all communications with DfE (including EOI submission) will be conducted via Contract Finder. Indicative dates for procurement: * Late-March 2019 - EOI opens * May 2019 - indicative contract award. Further information and background: On 31 July 2018, the Secretary of State announced that the Department would be launching a competition to identify high quality mobile/tablet apps, with the ambition of making these freely accessible to disadvantaged families. This commitment fits within the context of a Departmental priority to reduce by half the proportion of children who do not achieve at least expected levels across all goals in the 'communication & language' and 'literacy' areas of learning at the end of reception year by 2028. The Department for Education (DfE) is also exploring commercial options to provide access for disadvantaged children in the early years to high quality educational mobile/tablet apps. These would be apps for children to use within the home environment to improve their language, literacy and communication skills. We will be running a separate procurement process to procure one or more apps to be delivered to disadvantaged two-, three- and four-year olds within a limited number of local areas (approx. 8 to 12). Any app procured would need to fulfil the quality and technical criteria as mentioned above. The DfE is not committing to undertake any formal commissioning activity resulting from this notice, and we may use the information gathered via this process to support any future commercial activity. Please note that this PIN is not a call to competition and the DfE is not bound to enter into any procurement activity because of it.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-b5fd17-236789c6-08c6-41a3-8366-43fd7fd796bc
Publication Source
Contracts Finder
Latest Notice
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/1a3901b4-246f-4a3a-8840-ade75aff7ee3
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Not specified
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support


CPV Codes

72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
7 Mar 20196 years ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
14 Mar 2019Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Not Specified
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
SW1P 3BT
Post Town
South West London
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI3 Inner London - West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI35 Westminster and City of London
Delivery Location
Not specified

Local Authority
Westminster
Electoral Ward
St James's
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

{
    "tag": [
        "compiled"
    ],
    "id": "ocds-b5fd17-236789c6-08c6-41a3-8366-43fd7fd796bc-2019-03-07T09:11:44Z",
    "date": "2019-03-07T09:11:44Z",
    "ocid": "ocds-b5fd17-236789c6-08c6-41a3-8366-43fd7fd796bc",
    "language": "en",
    "initiationType": "tender",
    "title": "Technical Assessment of Home Learning Environment Early Years applications",
    "planning": {
        "milestones": [
            {
                "id": "1",
                "title": "Engagement end date",
                "type": "engagement",
                "dueDate": "2019-03-14T23:59:59Z"
            }
        ],
        "documents": [
            {
                "id": "1",
                "documentType": "marketEngagementNotice",
                "description": "Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder",
                "url": "https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/1a3901b4-246f-4a3a-8840-ade75aff7ee3",
                "datePublished": "2019-03-07T09:11:44Z",
                "format": "text/html",
                "language": "en"
            }
        ]
    },
    "tender": {
        "id": "1576",
        "title": "Technical Assessment of Home Learning Environment Early Years applications",
        "description": "The Department for Education (DfE) intends to undertake an Expression of Interest (EOI) process to procure the services of an organisation to undertake the technical assessment of the quality assurance exercise for the Early Years Applications. The Department will be running a quality assurance exercise to identify and provide an indication of quality for early years apps of high educational value, so that parents can make more informed choices when selecting apps for their children. We have established an educational expert panel, who are responsible for drawing up the criteria for educational quality in early years literacy, language and communication apps. These criteria will be used to assess apps and award an indication of quality to all those meeting the standard. In addition, we are looking to procure expertise to develop a technical framework against which to assess apps. The chosen supplier will be responsible for assessing whether apps that have been approved by the educational expert panel are also in adherence to certain technical external standards such as GDPR and security standards. The formation of this technical framework will be developed in conjunction with the educational quality criteria by spring/summer 2019. Once both sets of criteria have been established there will be an open invitation in the spring to app developers and promoters to submit their apps for consideration and the chosen supplier will be required to complete the technical assessment of apps by early summer. We would expect the chosen supplier to be able to demonstrate a strong record of achievement in reviewing the technical standards of digital apps in either education or another field. If you would like to express an interest in our requirement please email EarlyYears.APPS@education.gov.uk by 14th March 2019. Additional information: DfE will administer the procurement process electronically via the government Contract Finder. No hard copy documents will be issued; all communications with DfE (including EOI submission) will be conducted via Contract Finder. Indicative dates for procurement: * Late-March 2019 - EOI opens * May 2019 - indicative contract award. Further information and background: On 31 July 2018, the Secretary of State announced that the Department would be launching a competition to identify high quality mobile/tablet apps, with the ambition of making these freely accessible to disadvantaged families. This commitment fits within the context of a Departmental priority to reduce by half the proportion of children who do not achieve at least expected levels across all goals in the 'communication & language' and 'literacy' areas of learning at the end of reception year by 2028. The Department for Education (DfE) is also exploring commercial options to provide access for disadvantaged children in the early years to high quality educational mobile/tablet apps. These would be apps for children to use within the home environment to improve their language, literacy and communication skills. We will be running a separate procurement process to procure one or more apps to be delivered to disadvantaged two-, three- and four-year olds within a limited number of local areas (approx. 8 to 12). Any app procured would need to fulfil the quality and technical criteria as mentioned above. The DfE is not committing to undertake any formal commissioning activity resulting from this notice, and we may use the information gathered via this process to support any future commercial activity. Please note that this PIN is not a call to competition and the DfE is not bound to enter into any procurement activity because of it.",
        "status": "planning",
        "classification": {
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "id": "72000000",
            "description": "IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support"
        },
        "items": [
            {
                "id": "1",
                "deliveryAddresses": [
                    {
                        "countryName": "British Oversea Territories"
                    },
                    {
                        "countryName": "Channel Islands"
                    },
                    {
                        "countryName": "Europe"
                    },
                    {
                        "countryName": "Isle of Man"
                    },
                    {
                        "countryName": "Rest of the World"
                    },
                    {
                        "countryName": "United Kingdom"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "suitability": {
            "sme": true,
            "vcse": true
        }
    },
    "parties": [
        {
            "id": "GB-SRS-sid4gov.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/QfDr2jb7",
            "name": "Department For Education",
            "identifier": {
                "legalName": "Department For Education",
                "scheme": "GB-SRS",
                "id": "sid4gov.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/QfDr2jb7"
            },
            "address": {
                "streetAddress": "Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street",
                "locality": "London",
                "postalCode": "SW1P 3BT",
                "countryName": "England"
            },
            "contactPoint": {
                "email": "EarlyYears.APPS@education.gov.uk"
            },
            "roles": [
                "buyer"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "buyer": {
        "id": "GB-SRS-sid4gov.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/QfDr2jb7",
        "name": "Department For Education"
    }
}