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Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS - Alpha

Department for Education

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

23 Oct 2026 at 14:12

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Department for Education plans an Alpha phase of its Single Unique Identifier programme, testing how school management information system (MIS) platforms can use NHS Numbers to identify children across safeguarding services. The work centres on integrating suppliers’ MIS platforms with the Department’s Get an Identifier service, which enables authorised access to NHS Numbers and GP details from NHS England’s Personal Demographics Service. Suppliers would support participating schools with onboarding, testing and implementation, complete NHS England onboarding and assurance, and support live operation during the Alpha. They would also provide evidence on implementation effort, costs, timescales, technical barriers and operational impacts, and contribute to evaluation of possible national rollout. This is software development, implementation, configuration and consultancy work. The buying organisation is the Department for Education; activity involves participating schools, with no specific delivery location stated.

This process is at planning stage: the Department has described an intended procurement, but has not issued an invitation to tender or committed to starting a procurement or awarding a contract. It expects to appoint up to two MIS suppliers. The planned contract period is 4 January to 31 March 2027, with a possible extension to 30 September 2027. The estimated value is £300,000 excluding VAT (£360,000 including VAT). The Department expects to publish a further notice by 9 November 2026. Preliminary market engagement is planned, including a supplier session and optional questionnaire; the engagement is intended to inform requirements and procurement strategy, and participation will not be evaluated. The procurement is set out as one lot. No procedure, bid deadline or evaluation criteria are established at this planning stage.

This work is suited to suppliers already operating school MIS platforms and able to deliver integrations with a DfE-hosted service and NHS England systems. Relevant strengths include secure handling of sensitive child and health-related information, technical integration, platform testing and configuration, and the ability to support onboarding and implementation across participating schools. Suppliers should be equipped to complete NHS England onboarding and assurance, support live operation, and report clearly on delivery effort, costs, timescales, barriers and operational effects. The Alpha is intended to test feasibility, supplier readiness, scalability and user value, so practical evidence-gathering and evaluation capability will matter alongside software delivery. The Department welcomes SME and VCSE participation and will consider consortia and collaborative bids, making partnership a possible route for organisations that do not cover every capability alone. No specific accreditation or prior experience requirement has yet been set.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS - Alpha

Notice Description

The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking to engage with the market in advance of a planned procurement for the Alpha phase of the Single Unique Identifier (SUI) programme. The SUI programme aims to improve the identification of children across safeguarding services by enabling the use of NHS Numbers as a Single Unique Identifier. The Alpha phase will test the integration of school Management Information System (MIS) platforms with the DfE-hosted Get an Identifier service, enabling authorised access to NHS numbers and GP details from NHS England's Personal Demographics Service. DfE intends to appoint up to two MIS suppliers to participate in the Alpha phase. Successful suppliers will be expected to: * integrate their MIS platform with the DfE-hosted Get an Identifier service; * support onboarding, testing and implementation activities with participating schools; * complete relevant NHS England onboarding and assurance activities; * support live operation during the Alpha phase; * provide evidence on implementation effort, costs, timescales, technical barriers and operational impacts; and contribute to evaluation activities to inform future decisions regarding national rollout. The Alpha phase is intended to generate evidence on technical feasibility, implementation complexity, supplier readiness, operational requirements, user value, scalability and future delivery model. Nothing contained within this notice, the market engagement event, any supporting materials, or the follow-up questionnaire shall be taken as a commitment by the Department for Education to commence a procurement, award a contract, enter into any agreement, or provide funding. Information provided during the engagement is indicative only and may be subject to change. 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 Department for Education intends to undertake preliminary market engagement through: A live Microsoft Teams market engagement session will be held with interested suppliers operating within the school Management Information System market. provide an overview of the Single Unique Identifier (SUI) Alpha programme; explain the proposed Alpha objectives and scope; outline the anticipated procurement approach; discuss the proposed technical integration requirements; provide information on onboarding, assurance and delivery expectations; allow suppliers to ask questions and seek clarification; and gather initial feedback from the market regarding feasibility, risks, timescales and implementation considerations. Attendance at the event is voluntary and will not form part of any future evaluation process. Following the market engagement event, suppliers will be invited to complete an optional Microsoft Forms questionnaire. The questionnaire will be used to gather feedback on: supplier capability and capacity; proposed delivery approaches; technical integration considerations; indicative implementation timescales; onboarding and assurance requirements; potential risks and dependencies; market appetite to participate in the Alpha phase; and any other observations that may assist DfE in refining the procurement strategy and requirements. Responses will be considered solely for market engagement purposes and will not be scored or evaluated as part of any future procurement process. If you are interested in attending this market engagement please register via Jaggaer before the event. Once registered, the supplier event area can be accessed by clicking "View Opportunities" on the main page. By registering for this market engagement event, you acknowledge that the information shared through this market engagement is provided in confidence and must not be disclosed outside your organisation. Please ensure all attendees from your organisation are aware of and comply with this requirement. Please register for Jaggaer using the URL link below: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html Following registration, you will receive a message via the Jaggaer portal asking you to confirm this acknowledgement. You must respond in confirmation to this message before an event invite will be issued. Participants who have registered an expression of interest will receive a link to join the session via Microsoft Teams. If you do not receive the invite at least 24hrs before the event, please also email Core.PROCUREMENT@education.gov.uk to ensure you receive joining instructions in time.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/100540-2026
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

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

CPV Codes

72262000 - Software development services

72263000 - Software implementation services

72265000 - Software configuration services

72266000 - Software consultancy services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£300,000 £100K-£500K
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
23 Oct 20263 days ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
9 Nov 20262 weeks to go
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
4 Jan 2027 - 31 Mar 2027 1-6 months
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
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
Postcode Area
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
Not specified
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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