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National Centre for Arts and Music Education

Department for Education

This public procurement record has 14 releases in its history.

AwardUpdate

15 Sep 2026 at 14:15

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

14 Sep 2026 at 12:26

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
TenderUpdate

19 Feb 2026 at 16:25

UK4 - Tender Notice
Tender

18 Feb 2026 at 13:55

UK4 - Tender Notice
PlanningUpdate

09 Feb 2026 at 09:45

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
PlanningUpdate

09 Feb 2026 at 09:42

UK3 - Planned Procurement Notice
PlanningUpdate

06 Feb 2026 at 16:41

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

06 Feb 2026 at 16:21

UK3 - Planned Procurement Notice
PlanningUpdate

28 Nov 2025 at 10:16

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
PlanningUpdate

27 Oct 2025 at 07:29

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
PlanningUpdate

24 Oct 2025 at 11:37

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
PlanningUpdate

19 Sep 2025 at 15:02

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
PlanningUpdate

15 Jul 2025 at 16:20

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

28 May 2025 at 17:19

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Education has procured an education and training services provider to establish and operate the National Centre for Arts Education in England. The Centre will provide national leadership to revitalise arts education in schools, coordinate partners and investment, generate evidence, and improve access for underserved communities. Its responsibilities include supporting teacher development through online continuing professional development, promoting arts education and progression opportunities to schools, families and young people, and overseeing the Music Hubs network, including funding, monitoring and performance support. The work covers England, including the North East, North West, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East and South West. The Centre will work with arts, cultural, education and philanthropic organisations, with Arts Council England supporting the transition of Music Hubs oversight.

The procurement is complete and was awarded on 8 September 2026 to Empowering Educational International Limited (Etio), leading a consortium with the Chartered College of Teaching and Birmingham City University. The award is £24,225,000 excluding VAT and £29,070,000 including VAT, compared with an original estimated value of £13,000,000 excluding VAT and £15,600,000 including VAT. The contract runs from 30 September 2026 to 31 August 2029, with options for three annual extensions to 31 August 2032. It used an open procedure. Four valid bids were received. Evaluation weighted technical quality at 60%, social value at 10% and price at 30%. Participation required economic and technical selection criteria, with the lot identified as suitable for SMEs and voluntary, community or social enterprises.

This requirement indicates demand for an organisation able to lead a complex national education programme across the arts, schools and cultural sectors. A credible future supplier would need strategic leadership capability, strong partnership and stakeholder-management skills, and the capacity to coordinate national, regional and local delivery. Relevant experience includes improving arts or music education, supporting schools and teachers, designing online professional development, managing funding programmes, monitoring delivery and using data and evidence to target unequal access. Suppliers should be able to oversee a network of local partnerships and work constructively with government, arts bodies, education institutions, philanthropy and community organisations. Social value matters materially in the evaluation, alongside technical quality and price, so demonstrable community benefit and inclusive outcomes would strengthen a competing proposition.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

National Centre for Arts and Music Education

Notice Description

The Department for Education is contracting with a delivery partner to establish and operate a National Centre for Arts Education (previously called the National Centre for Arts and Music Education) (the "Centre"). The intention is to establish the Centre by September 2026. The Centre will play a pivotal role in delivering the government's ambition to revitalise arts in schools in England, so every child can access a rich, high-quality arts education that nurtures creativity, confidence, cultural understanding, and personal expression. This ambition will be underpinned by close collaboration with leading arts and cultural organisations and sector bodies to ensure the Centre reflects the breadth, diversity, and excellence of England's cultural landscape. The Centre will act as a strategic system leader, working across national, regional, and local levels to strengthen arts provision in schools. By convening and mobilising a broad coalition of partners from across arts, culture, education and philanthropy, the Centre is intended to create the conditions for meaningful social impact. It will coordinate and align funding, investment, and activity to maximise the collective impact of all partners involved in arts education in schools. It will also generate and share data and evidence to guide decision making and target support where access to high-quality arts education is most unequal. In this way, the Centre will be an important partner in revitalising arts education, securing equitable access to high-quality teaching and enrichment opportunities, particularly for children and communities currently least able to access them. The Centre will operate with transparency, accountability, and a commitment to sector engagement, building trust and long-term partnerships across the arts and cultural ecology. The delivery partner will lead the Centre and therefore be responsible for the design, implementation, and oversight of the Music Hubs network to support delivery of these priorities: * Priority 1: Providing strategic national leadership in revitalising arts in schools, mobilising a coalition of national, regional, and local partners to generate and direct investment to support equitable access to high-quality arts in school, with a focus on under-served communities. * Priority 2: Supporting excellent teaching, through a new online CPD offer for primary and secondary school teachers and support to access existing high-quality teacher development provision available from others. * Priority 3: Promoting arts education to school leaders, teachers, parents, and young people, including promoting opportunities for children and young people to progress in the arts and pursue their interests and career aspirations. * Oversight of the Music Hubs network, including being fundholder for the network, monitoring hubs' performance and delivery, and working with hubs to achieve the Centre's three priorities. The Centre will be established with a phased implementation plan for its programme of work, with the intention of commencing this work from 30 September 2026. The phased implementation includes Centre assuming responsibility for the existing Music Hubs network from 1 September 2027. There are 43 local partnerships that support schools to deliver music education and they are currently overseen by Arts Council England. Arts Council England will work with the Centre to transfer this oversight function, during which the Centre can undertake preliminary engagement with Music Hub partnerships before September 2027. Future funding for the Music Hubs revenue grant from September 2027 will be confirmed in due course and is separate to this contract value. In parallel with this, the Department for Education has asked Arts Council England to support the Centre to develop relationships across the cultural education sector. Potential areas for support and collaboration include: sector engagement; learning from previous and current programmes; data and evidence; and place-based alignment. Awarded Supplier: Empowering Educational International Limited (Etio), leading a consortium with Chartered College of Teaching and Birmingham City University

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: The contract includes an optional provision for the Department to extend on an annual basis for up to a maximum of 3 years (1+1+1). Any decision to extend the contract will be subject to affordability, government priorities and policies.

Planning Information

The information events will provide an opportunity for interested parties to receive further information on the Department’s plans for The National Centre for Arts and Music Education and what we expect from prospective suppliers. The three 60-minute online information events are on: • Thursday 19 June 2025 at 1pm • Monday 23 June 2025 at 10.30am • Tuesday 1 July 2025 at 2pm Information regarding these sessions will be available to those who register their interest on our e-tendering portal Jaggaer: https://education.app.jaggaer.com, under ref. ssq_587 - Market Engagement - National Centre for Arts and Music Education. **UPDATE 15th July 2025 The Department is currently seeking expressions of interest from organisations with an interest in bidding, and this includes academy trusts. Responses are encouraged by Thursday 24 July. Please use the following link to express your interest: https://forms.office.com/e/71WgqY7W9T The information provided at the recent information events can be found on Jaggaer. **UPDATE 19th September 2025 The intention is for the ITT to be published in October 2025 rather than September as set out that the information events. A more detailed update of the procurement timetable will be provided shortly. **UPDATE 24th October 2025 The ITT is now due to be published before the end of the calendar year with a 10-week period for bids to be submitted. The intention remains for the National Centre to be established in September 2026, with a phased work programme to be agreed with the successful bidder. **UPDATE 28th November 2025 The ITT is now due to be published in the new year. More information will be provided soon. **UPDATE 6th February 2026 The Department for Education has now published a Preliminary Procurement Notice for the National Centre for Arts and Music Education, which you can find here: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/011134-2026 This notice will therefore not include any further updates.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-052863
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/087347-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Planning, Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

80 - Education and training services

CPV Codes

80000000 - Education and training services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£13,000,000 £10M-£100M
Lots Value
£13,000,000 £10M-£100M
Awards Value
£24,225,000 £10M-£100M
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
15 Sep 20263 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
29 Apr 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
16 Feb 2026Expired
Award Date
8 Sep 20264 weeks ago
Contract Period
30 Sep 2026 - 31 Aug 2029 2-3 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

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
Postcode Area
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
TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLH East (England), TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England)
Local Authority
Westminster
Electoral Ward
St James's
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Empowering Educational International Limited (Etio)

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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.

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