Planning

Pre-market engagement - Legal Adviser Services for Teacher Misconduct Cases (Teaching Regulation Agency)

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION

This public procurement record has 4 releases in its history.

PlanningUpdate

13 Mar 2026 at 12:18

PlanningUpdate

13 Mar 2026 at 12:03

PlanningUpdate

13 Mar 2026 at 11:42

Planning

11 Mar 2026 at 15:07

Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Education has initiated a market engagement process for procuring legal adviser services for teacher misconduct cases handled by the Teaching Regulation Agency. The procurement, in the planning stage, involves a scheduled virtual market engagement event on 16 April 2026, spanning from 3:15 pm to 4:15 pm. Interested parties must register on the Jaggaer e-tendering portal to confirm their participation in the event, set in London, United Kingdom. This engagement seeks to refine the procurement approach before formal tendering begins, targeting legal services integral to ensuring fair Professional Conduct Panel hearings.

Participating in this procurement enables SMEs and VCSEs to expand business horizons, particularly those specialising in legal services tailored to educational governance. With an estimated gross contract value of £6 million, organisations focusing on procedure law and regulatory compliance are well-suited to exploit growth opportunities by supporting the TRA's robust legal frameworks. Collaboration between entities, possibly forming consortia, is encouraged to maximise bid success, promising potential long-term engagements starting April 2027. Hence, businesses adept at maintaining legal accuracy and operational stability across disciplinary panels stand to benefit considerably.

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Notice Title

Pre-market engagement - Legal Adviser Services for Teacher Misconduct Cases (Teaching Regulation Agency)

Notice Description

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) intends to procure external legal adviser services to support the lawful, fair and efficient operation of Professional Conduct Panel (PCP) hearings. These services will build on the model used under the current Legal Adviser (LA) contracts and will ensure panels receive independent, high quality legal advice throughout the misconduct hearing process. Legal advisers provide essential and impartial advice to PCPs on matters of law, mixed questions of law and fact, procedure, precedent, and any other issues relevant to the case before the panel. They also draft the panel's written findings of fact, announced decision, and final decision document, ensuring these are clear, legally sound and fully compliant with the Teachers' Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012 and TRA's published guidance. The TRA will conduct early market engagement to present our high level approach to the future service model and ensure suppliers have clarity ahead of the formal procurement. These sessions will provide an opportunity to explore practical aspects of delivering legally compliant hearings, understand market capacity and discuss how suppliers can support resilience and consistency across panels. After the event, suppliers will be invited to complete a questionnaire to provide feedback that will support the TRA's development of its service model. The resulting procurement will therefore establish a resilient, high quality legal adviser service capable of supporting the current statutory framework and the future expansion of the Teacher Misconduct regime. The TRA will work closely with contracted suppliers to maintain high standards of legal accuracy, consistency in decision making and operational stability across all panel hearings. *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.

Planning Information

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is hosting a virtual market engagement event on Thursday 16 April 2026 from 3:15pm to 4:15pm. The session will be held on Microsoft Teams. 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 - https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html Once registered, please navigate to the “Current Opportunities” section and search for: • Project_10263 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) - maximum of two attendees • 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. All communications regarding this event must be submitted via Jaggaer. For any Jaggaer system support request, please contact Jaggaer Helpdesk.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06676a
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022938-2026
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
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security


CPV Codes

79100000 - Legal services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£5,000,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
13 Mar 2026Yesterday
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
16 Apr 20262 months to go
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
31 Mar 2027 - 31 Mar 2029 2-3 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
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
TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLE Yorkshire and The Humber, TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLH East (England), TLI London, TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England)

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

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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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