Planning

Provision for Education Technology Managed Services

EDUCATION AUTHORITY

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

PlanningUpdate

18 Dec 2025 at 15:16

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

18 Dec 2025 at 15:01

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Education Authority, a central government public authority based in Northern Ireland, is currently in the planning stage of a procurement process titled "Provision for Education Technology Managed Services". This initiative aims to explore the future provision of education technology services across all schools in Northern Ireland, covering areas such as infrastructure managed services, supplier and service integration, cyber security, user experience, and schools catalogue services. The process is within the industry category of IT services, including consulting and software development. A Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise is scheduled, with suppliers required to submit questionnaires by 30th January 2026, paving the way for potential virtual meetings from 2nd to 27th February 2026. The procurement value is anticipated to be up to £228 million over an eight-year period with planning for contracts set to run from March 2027 to February 2035.

This tender represents a significant opportunity for businesses specialising in IT services, software development, and cyber security to engage with a public sector contract worth approximately £228 million. Companies with expertise in infrastructure managed services or management of education technology environments will find this particularly advantageous. Participation in this early-stage engagement exercise could inform strategic decisions regarding contract packaging and provide insights into potential procurement strategies. This process may be ideal for both seasoned contractors in the public sector and new entrants looking to expand their portfolio in the educational technology domain. Additionally, by contributing to the PME phase, businesses can influence contract structuring, potentially impacting future procurement opportunities.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Provision for Education Technology Managed Services

Notice Description

***This is not a tender exercise*** The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) would like to invite participation in a Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) exercise to seek the views of the market for the future provision of education technology services (referred to in this PME as the "Education Technology Managed Services") currently included in the EN(ni) contract for all Schools in Northern Ireland including but not limited to infrastructure managed services, supplier and service integration, cyber security operations and management, user experience and schools catalogue services. The purpose of this PME exercise is for EANI to gain a better understanding of the supplier market and the feasibility of its requirements for these services, the most appropriate contracting strategy, procurement strategy and operational approach, the capacity of the market to deliver the requirements. The exercise will also provide an opportunity for the market to highlight any possible risks or issues that may not have previously been considered. This PME exercise will inform EANI's decision as to whether the Education Technology Managed Services should be procured as a single contract or procured as separate contracts (for example an infrastructure managed services contract plus one or more contracts for cyber security operations and management, user experience, schools catalogue services and supplier and service integration if they are not incorporated in the infrastructure managed services contract). If the Education Technology Managed Services are procured as separate contracts, this PME exercise would act as the PME exercise for the Infrastructure Managed Services contract and EA may, and reserves the right to (or not), conduct separate additional PME exercises in respect of the Supplier and Service Integration Provider, Cyber Security Operations and Management Service, User Experience and Schools Catalogue contracts if and to the extent that these services are not incorporated in the Infrastructure Managed Services contract. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of any formal procurement process and there is no commitment at this stage to carry out such a process. Any information gathered will not be considered in any future tender exercise. Please note that participation or non-participation in this PME exercise shall not prevent any supplier from participating in any future procurement process, nor is it intended that any information provided shall place any supplier at an advantage or disadvantage in any future procurement exercise. Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from the documents section of the CfT on eTendersNI. Suppliers who wish to participate in the PME exercise must return the completed questionnaire via the messaging function of the CfT on eTendersNI no later than 30th January 2026. Please note that the estimated maximum values detailed in this notice are based on an estimated 8 year contract period and the total values comprise (as indicative values): Infrastructure Managed Services: circa PS120m to PS130m Cyber Security: circa PS10m UX Provider: circa PS5m to PS10m Schools Catalogue: circa PS20m to PS30m Supplier & Service Integration: circa PS10m

Planning Information

Suppliers who wish to participate in the PME exercise must return the completed questionnaire via the messaging function of the CfT on eTendersNI no later than 3pm on Friday 30th January 2026. EA reserves the right to seek additional clarification information in relation to any responses provided by suppliers as part of this exercise. Such clarifications would be limited to those questionnaire responses that require clarification. In addition, EA may invite all suppliers who have expressed an interest in the infrastructure managed services contract (i.e. in response to Question 2.1), to attend an individual PME meeting. The focus of such meetings will be to further clarify (where necessary) each supplier’s responses to the PME Questionnaire where such responses relate to the procurement strategy for the infrastructure managed services contract (as this would be the first procurement to follow the PME exercise if the Education Technology Managed Services were to be procured as separate contracts). Such meetings shall take place via MS Teams and are expected to take place between 2nd and 27th February 2026. Suppliers should note that EA is required by the Procurement Act 2023 to keep a record of the information it has shared and received as part of the preliminary market engagement, including information shared and received in such meetings. Accordingly, EA is required to keep a record of the meeting discussions and may be required to share details of such meetings with all suppliers at the commencement of any tender process. EA may be required by the Act to share such information on a non-attributable basis and in such circumstances would exclude any confidential information or commercially sensitive information of the supplier to the extent permitted by the Act. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the scoping phase of the project and is not part of a formal procurement process. Further information including the questionnaire can be downloaded from eTendersNI CfT Documents area of CfT 6316535.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f966
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/084518-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

48 - Software package and information systems

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

CPV Codes

48200000 - Networking, Internet and intranet software package

48600000 - Database and operating software package

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

72200000 - Software programming and consultancy services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£190,000,000 £100M-£1B
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
18 Dec 20252 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
30 Jan 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Mar 2027 - 28 Feb 2035 Over 5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

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

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
EDUCATION AUTHORITY
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
edis.procurement@eani.org.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
BELFAST
Postcode
BT1 2NQ
Post Town
Northern Ireland
Country
Northern Ireland
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLN Northern Ireland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLN0 Northern Ireland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLN06 Belfast
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Belfast
Electoral Ward
Duncairn
Westminster Constituency
Belfast North

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. 

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