Planning

Psychometric Testing and Assessment Services

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

06 May 2026 at 11:18

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Essex County Council is currently in the planning stage of a procurement process titled "Psychometric Testing and Assessment Services," which targets the education sector, specifically focusing on support for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs (SEND). Based in Chelmsford, the engagement process invites suppliers to complete a questionnaire by 27 May 2026, with potential follow-up activities including demonstrations and further discussions. The procurement aims to develop a digital vocational tool supporting education pathways in Essex, with an anticipated contract start in September 2026. The procurement method employed is preliminary market engagement, designed to assess market capability and inform the procurement strategy, but is not a call for competition.

This tender offers significant opportunities for businesses specializing in IT services, psychometric assessments, and educational tools development. It presents a chance to contribute to a comprehensive digital profiling system that supports SEND children and young people. Companies with expertise in adaptive testing, cognitive assessments, and software development tailored to educational needs would be well-suited to participate. The ability to provide an inclusive, accessible, and technically robust platform with the potential for customization and data security compliance will be key. This engagement phase offers a valuable opportunity to influence and shape future formal procurement, potentially leading to substantial business growth through collaboration with Essex County Council.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Psychometric Testing and Assessment Services

Notice Description

Introduction Essex County Council are currently undertaking the build of a Digital Vocational Tool. This tool will primarily be used to support Children and Young People (CYP) with Special Educational Needs (SEND), although in time this may be used for the wider education cohorts. To support this, we are seeking the provision of psychometric testing and related assessment services. This service would primarily be used in educational settings, however there will also be a requirement for this to be used by parents for Children and Young People with SEND educated at home. It is therefore imperative that the tools can be used by a range of persons not only accredited professionals. ECC is undertaking this Preliminary market engagement notice (PME) to engage with potential suppliers to understand market capability and available solutions to help develop the Authority's requirements and inform the procurement strategy. This notice serves to alert the market and invite expressions of interest ahead of a planned tender process. Background and Purpose The purpose of this PME is to support early market engagement with suppliers who can provide robust, validated, and reliable psychometric assessment tools to support children and young people with SEND identify and articulate their strengths, interests, personality traits, transferable skills, experiences, preferred working style, support needs and aspirations in a way which supports their learning needs, and matches these to job types and local relevant pathways in Essex. ECC is looking to learn more about tools which offer a range of components. The resulting digital profile should be accessible, inclusive and developmentally appropriate enabling young people to understand themselves as learners and future workers. It should meaningfully inform education, employment and training pathways by matching individual profiles to realistic job roles, local labour market opportunities and progression routes within Essex whilst supporting personalised planning, transitions and engagement with employment opportunities. The digital profile should have the ability to update and track progress and changing aspirations. Components which have been defined as critical are:- - Adaptive strengths - based Personality and preference assessments that identify how a young person is likely to experience and interact with learning and work environments. - Cognitive ability and aptitude testing used to identify learning styles, processing preferences and suitable task types. - Strengths profile including talents, soft skills, experiences and working style combined with areas for development - Inclusive situational judgement tests that explore how young people respond to realistic workplace and learning scenarios. - Creative options such as gamified aspects of the solution that enhance engagement and accessibility. Career, job-type and local pathway matching, using assessment outputs to align individual strengths, preferences, support needs and aspirations to realistic employment sectors, job roles and education or training pathways relevant to the local labour market in Essex. - All feedback should be age appropriate and SEND informed. Support profile Components which have been defined as helpful but not imperative include: - Accredited feedback or coaching services linked to results. - Situational judgement tests The aim is to understand current market capability, innovation, price points and delivery models before shaping a formal procurement approach. Scope of the Required Service The anticipated future contract may cover: - Access to online psychometric testing platforms - Associated licensing, support and maintenance model, with suppliers asked to provide indicative pricing based on up to 1,000 young people having a digital profile created over a 12-month period. - Volumes may vary and no minimum usage commitment is implied at this stage. - Customisable reporting outputs (individual and aggregated) - Administrative dashboards - Provision of an API that can be exposed, via Azure APIM, for consumption by an in-house component. The API needs to provide functionality to allow the component full access to the systems resources, via ad-hoc searches or predefined methods - Data protection, security and GDPR compliance - Technical Customer assistance - A pre-recorded demonstration of the tools which can be viewed by users The exact specification will be refined following the market engagement phase. Estimated Timescales - PME and market engagement release: May 2026 - Market engagement sessions: Summer 2026 - Formal procurement launch (if applicable): Summer 2026 - Contract start date: Approx September 2026 with service mobilised by January 2027 These timescales are provisional and may be subject to change.

Planning Information

Engagement Process Description ECC are inviting interested suppliers that are capable of providing this Tool to complete a questionnaire via the following Microsoft forms link:  https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=TzK0qFwVFUKg8X7YzJqZL3jURid1DWlMu4oX1WAL4a5UOEJNVDlVOFBYN0ozN0UyUlE3Q1Y5M0I4VS4u Responses are to be submitted by 27/05/2026 at 5pm. If you are having any issues with the link, please reach out via email. Following review of responses, ECC may reach out to interested suppliers to organise demos, to hold a bidders event, for further discussions or to commence a formal tender process. If demos are to be arranged, they will be held via teams or on site at County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1QH. Please note this PME notice/request for information is not intended as a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any potential future tender opportunity. Responding to this PME does not constitute a tender submission, a quotation, or any binding commitment to procure these services. Please note there is no commitment or guarantee that procurement activity will go ahead. Participation is voluntary and will neither benefit nor disadvantage any supplier in any potential future procurement opportunity. Responses to the questionnaire will be treated confidentially.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-069251
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/041473-2026
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
Not specified
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
6 May 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
27 May 20262 weeks to go
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
31 Aug 2026 - 1 Sep 2027 1-2 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
ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
CHELMSFORD
Postcode
CM1 1QH
Post Town
Chelmsford
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLH East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLH3 Essex
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLH36 Heart of Essex
Delivery Location
TLH3 Essex
Local Authority
Chelmsford
Electoral Ward
Moulsham and Central
Westminster Constituency
Chelmsford

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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