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ID 1032027/L8 Legal Services for Strategic Partner Services & School Management System Solution Project

Education Authority NI

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Award

24 Jul 2026 at 17:12

Award Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Education Authority bought legal services to support its Strategic Partner Services and School Management System Solution project. The requirement covers legal advice and support for a complex strategic procurement, including the ongoing procurement of services needed to develop the project. It is a professional services contract for legal work, classified under CPV 79100000. The work is for the Education Authority, based in Belfast, and supports its education-related responsibilities across Northern Ireland. The requirement was structured as one lot under Lot 8 of the CPD Framework for Legal Services. The selected supplier is a Belfast-based law firm, indicating that the work requires a provider able to advise a public authority on procurement and related strategic project matters.

This procurement has been awarded and the contract is active. The Education Authority used a limited award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition, as a call-off from Lot 8 of the CPD Framework for Legal Services. The original contract commenced on 11 January 2022 for three years, was extended to 10 January 2027, and has since been modified to run until 31 March 2028. The contract was signed on 15 July 2026. Carson McDowell LLP was awarded the contract. The value of this modification and active contract is £462,500, including an uplift of 50% of the original contract value. The modification was made under Regulation 72(1)(b) to retain continuity of legal advice and support for the strategic procurement.

This opportunity is relevant to law firms with demonstrable public procurement expertise and experience advising education or other public-sector bodies on complex strategic procurements. A credible competitor would need to provide technically strong legal advice throughout the development and delivery of a major partner-services and school-management-system project. The requirement favours a team able to understand procurement environments, associated risks, framework call-offs and contract modifications, while giving consistent, informed and timely advice over a multi-year programme. Established knowledge of the client’s project, procurement history and existing arrangements was important to the selected supplier, so future competitors would need a robust approach to knowledge transfer, continuity and rapid mobilisation. The work suits a specialist public-sector legal practice with sufficient capacity to support an ongoing strategic procurement.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

ID 1032027/L8 Legal Services for Strategic Partner Services & School Management System Solution Project

Notice Description

The provision of legal services for the Strategic Partner Services and School Management System Solution project.

Lot Information

Lot 1

The provision of legal services for the Strategic Partner Services and School Management System Solution project.

Procurement Information

This contract was a call-off contract awarded under Lot 8 of the CPD Framework ID 1032027 for Legal Services and commenced on 11th January 2022 for a period of three years. The contract was subsequently modified to extend its term for a further period of 2 years until 10 January 2027 and to increase the value to cover this additional contract period, and a Modificaiton Notice was published to the market on 10 January 2025 (2025/S 000-000917). It has become necessary to further modify this contract until 31 March 2028 and to uplift the contract value by 50 percent of the original contract value (i.e. PS462,500) to support the ongoing procurement of this requirement. The modification is permissible under the grounds of Regulation 72 (1) (b) of the PCR, 2015, and meets the following conditions; (b) for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor that have become necessary and were not included in the initial procurement, where a change of contractor-- (i) cannot be made for economic or technical reasons such as requirements of interchangeability or interoperability with existing equipment, services or installations procured under the initial procurement, or (ii) would cause significant inconvenience or substantial duplication of costs for the contracting authority, provided that any increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract; For technical reasons a change in supplier is not possible at this stage. The provider has been contracted to provide legal advice and support on this requirement since January 2022 and has built up critical knowledge and understanding which will be required to proceed with this complex strategic procurement exercise required over the next 2 years. To change supplier at this critical time would result in loss of expertise, knowledge and impact the project timelines significantly and would result in substantial duplication of costs for the EA. The contract is required to ensure continuity of legal advice and support in relation to development of critical work. Retaining the existing provider will enable the contracting authority to access consistent, informed, and timely legal services based on the supplier's established understanding of the procurement environment and associated risks. EA has already issued the PSQ stage to market on 8th June 2026 via UK4 Tender Notice 2026/S 000-053968 which subsequently closed on 17th July 2026. The additional value is required to cover services in relation to support on the procurement.The value of this potential modification is PS462,500 and does not exceed 50% of the original contract value.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/070491-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

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
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£462,500 £100K-£500K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
24 Jul 20262 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

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

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Education Authority NI
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
BELFAST
Postcode
BT1 2NQ
Postcode Area
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
TLN Northern Ireland
Local Authority
Belfast
Electoral Ward
Duncairn
Westminster Constituency
Belfast North

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Carson McDowell LLP

Further Information

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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