Regenerative Schools Pilot - Academic Assurance Partner

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    "date": "2026-06-08T13:44:22+01:00",
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        {
            "id": "GB-PPON-PDZG-3487-DPVD",
            "name": "Department for Education",
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                "id": "PDZG-3487-DPVD"
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                "country": "GB",
                "countryName": "United Kingdom",
                "region": "UKI32"
            },
            "contactPoint": {
                "name": "Robert.ALEXANDER@EDUCATION.GOV.UK",
                "email": "PolicyAssurance.COMMERCIALQUERIES@education.gov.uk"
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        "id": "GB-PPON-PDZG-3487-DPVD",
        "name": "Department for Education"
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                "id": "engagement",
                "type": "engagement",
                "description": "1. Meet the Buyer event and questions session The Department will be hosting a presentation via Microsoft Teams on the dates below: 20th March 2026, 11:00-12:00 (deadline to register: 19th March 2026 at 15.00) 25th March 2026, 13:00-14:00 (deadline to register: 24th March 2026 at 15.00) During this event, relevant DfE stakeholders will outline our requirements, explain the needs of each role, and set out the indicative timeline and procurement approach. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session. The deadline to register for this event via Jaggaer is listed above. To register for this event, you will need to create a Jaggaer account and then access our opportunity notices to register on Event 3906 - Regenerative Schools Pilot - Academic Advisor. You will then be sent a link to the event. The deadline to register for this event via Jaggaer is listed above. 2. Market Engagement Questionnaire After the Meet the Buyer event, the Department will publish a Market Engagement Questionnaire. This Questionnaire will allow you to ask the DfE any questions that you may not wish to raise in a public forum. These questions will be anonymised and included within our tender clarification log, and answers will be circulated prior to tender publication if timelines allow. You will also be able to share any insight you feel would support the development of the requirement. This questionnaire will be sent to all supplier who have registered on Event 3906 - Regenerative Schools Pilot - Academic Advisor on 20th March. It will be open until the afternoon of 1st April. The Market Engagement Questionnaire will be hosted via Microsoft forms. 3. Accessing Jaggaer Jaggaer Registration - All of the Department's tenders are run via Jaggaer, our E-tendering platform. If you are not registered to this platform, you will need to sign up in order to access our market engagement events and take part in tenders. If you are not yet registered, we advise that you register as soon as possible. The registration process takes between 5 to10 minutes. Link to Jaggaer: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html Accessing the opportunity notice - When within Jaggaer, you will be able to access our Event 3906 - Regenerative Schools Pilot - Academic Advisor. Via the opportunities panel. Link to panel: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=60878",
                "dueDate": "2026-04-01T23:59:59+01:00",
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                "id": "022612-2026",
                "documentType": "marketEngagementNotice",
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                "description": "Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender",
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        "id": "project_10411 - Regenerative Schools Pilot - Academic Assurance Partner",
        "legalBasis": {
            "id": "2023/54",
            "scheme": "UKPGA",
            "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents"
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        "title": "Regenerative Schools Pilot - Academic Assurance Partner",
        "description": "The Department for Education and the Education Estates Strategy The Department for Education (DfE) is the UK government's Department responsible for the schools in England. As part of this role, we oversee the safety, condition, and long-term sustainability of the education estate. This includes ensuring that current and future school buildings are provided with safe, high-quality environments where children can learn and thrive. On 11th February 2026 the Department published its 10-year plan for the Education Estate, the Education Estates Strategy, A decade of national renewal. The Regenerative Schools Pilot was outlined within the strategy: \"Testing new solutions, technologies and construction methods - we will continue to look at how we can go further for our future design specifications as part of a research and development programme supported by PS33 million to 2029-30. This will prioritise regenerative approaches looking at a wide range of outcomes from energy storage to bio-based construction materials, such as timber and working closely with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on the Timber in Construction Road Map.\" This is your opportunity to shape this cutting-edge project, which will guide the Department's work over the next ten years and beyond. The Regenerative Schools Pilot, Introduction: The Department for Education intends to research, develop, and deliver a series of single and dual classroom, ultra-low-carbon school buildings under the Regenerative Schools Programme. This will be accompanied by a package of landscaping and retrofit interventions which will support biodiversity, passive heat-reduction (such as tree shading), fabric upgrades to existing buildings (cladding and windows), sustainable drainage systems and the creation of outdoor learning spaces. This programme will also produce case studies, guidance and resources for schools. As part of the Regenerative Schools Programme, the Department intends to appoint two parties in August 2026: an Innovation Lead and an Academic Assurance Partner. These organisations will produce feasibility studies, research the building materials and techniques required to produce ultra-low-carbon school buildings and develop 6 standard designs. Then, in March 2027, the Department plans to appoint a contractor to deliver the works, using the materials and methods specified by the Innovation Lead and Academic Assurance Partner. Separate market engagement and tender events will be held for the construction contractor's appointment. The Academic Assurance Partner The Academic Assurance Partner will complement the Innovation Lead's technical work by focusing on the social, educational, and behavioural dimensions of the programme. You will use your research capabilities and academic expertise related to ultra-low-carbon materials to advise the Department and Innovation Lead. Your role will begin with the creation of a school-ready engagement toolkit and the delivery of inclusive engagement across the participating regions. This will involve working directly with pupils, staff, governors, parents, and other stakeholders to build a picture of community needs, aspirations, and challenges, ensuring these insights inform both retrofit strategies and the design of the new learning spaces. You will translate these findings into clear design inputs so that lived experience directly shapes feasibility work and guidance documents. As projects move into delivery and buildings begin to be used, the Academic Assurance Partner will lead a structured programme of post-occupancy evaluation, bringing together qualitative and quantitative evidence to understand how the new and refurbished environments perform in practice. Your work will consider internal and external environmental factors (such as air quality, temperature, and acoustics), wellbeing, nature-connectedness, and educational impact, helping the Department understand what works and where further development may be required. The insights you produce will be shared through publications, reports, and case studies, contributing to future policy and guidance for the wider education estate. Working with the Innovation Lead The Innovation Lead and Academic Assurance Partner are intended to operate in parallel, each with a distinct focus but with close coordination throughout. The Innovation Lead will ensure technical feasibility, safety, and low-carbon performance, while the Academic Assurance Partner will ensure that the programme responds to the needs and experiences of the schools and communities involved. Together you will provide the Department with the combined academic, social, and technical expertise required to develop a set of replicable, ultra-low-carbon solutions that are grounded in real-world school environments and capable of informing future national delivery. Please refer to the engagement section of this notice for market engagement details.",
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                            "name": "Pricing schedule submission",
                            "description": "Suppliers to complete and return our Pricing Schedule.",
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                            "name": "Delivery Team: Capability, capacity and mobilisation",
                            "description": "Please demonstrate your capability and capacity to deliver this project through a suitably qualified, capable, and resilient project team. Your response should clearly set out how your proposed team will be resourced, mobilised, governed and quality-assured for the duration of the project.",
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                        {
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                            "name": "School and Community engagement",
                            "description": "Please outline your capability of engaging complex mixes of school, community and stakeholder groups to deliver co-designed, positive outcomes, and explain how this capability will be applied to this project.",
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                            "name": "Design Quality Assurance",
                            "description": "Please outline your capability in designing, developing and delivering frameworks or methodologies for assessing design quality, with a focus on education and/or the built environment, and explain how this capability will be applied to this project.",
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                            "description": "Please outline your approach to delivering your role on this project, demonstrating how you will contribute to timely, high quality and well governed outcomes.",
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                            "description": "Award Criteria: Theme 2: Tackling Economic Inequality, via Education and Training (Model Award Criteria 2.3); Delivery of apprenticeships, traineeships and T Level industry placement opportunities (Level 2, 3 and 4+) in relation to the contract.",
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                            "type": "economic",
                            "description": "Financial standing: Suppliers must complete and submit the FVRAT. Minimum financial standards include: - Turnover ratio greater than 1.5 - Operating margin greater than 5% - Quick/acid ratio greater than 0.8 - D&B Risk Indicator of 3 or below - D&B Failure Score of 26 or above - D&B Financial Strength of 1A or above - Cash availability greater than the annual contract value or otherwise sufficient to meet costs incurred before payment Where scores are RED or AMBER, an explanation and mitigation may be required. Separate FVRATs may be required for consortium members or other entities relied on. Where reliance is placed on a parent or third party for financial standing, a guarantee or other security may be required. Insurance: The successful supplier must already have, or commit to obtain prior to contract award, the following minimum levels of insurance: - Employer's Liability Insurance: PS5,000,000 - Public Liability Insurance: PS5,000,000 - Professional Indemnity Insurance: PS5,000,000 Data protection / GDPR: Suppliers must demonstrate that they have, or will have by contract award, the human and technical resources, systems and processes necessary to comply with UK GDPR and data protection legislation. Other legal/compliance requirements: Suppliers must satisfy the pass/fail requirements relating to health and safety, tackling modern slavery in supply chains, and relevant skills/apprenticeship requirements as set out in the associated tender documents."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "technical",
                            "description": "Cyber Essentials: The successful supplier must hold, or commit to obtain prior to contract award, Cyber Essentials (or equivalent independently verified controls) and maintain this during the contract. Technical Ability: Examples of previous experience of engaging with schools and providing assurance or advisory services."
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                "hasRenewal": true,
                "renewal": {
                    "description": "The Department reserves the right to extend this agreement for a period or periods of up to a maximum of 13 months in total. Any Extension Periods may be exercised in whole or in part, at the Department's discretion. These Extension Periods may utilise up to an additional PS285,000, inclusive of VAT."
                },
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                "options": {
                    "description": "The Department reserves the right to extend this agreement for a period or periods of up to a maximum of 13 months in total. Any Extension Periods may be exercised in whole or in part, at the Department's discretion. These Extension Periods may utilise up to an additional PS285,000, inclusive of VAT."
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