--- title: "Children's Social Care - Sector Capability, Capacity and Skills" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION" published: "2025-02-03" --- # Children's Social Care - Sector Capability, Capacity and Skills Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851.json) ## Summary The Department for Education is commencing a procurement process titled "Children's Social Care - Sector Capability, Capacity and Skills" under the industry classification of Systems and Technical Consultancy Services (CPV: 72220000). The procurement is in the planning stage with the primary aim of market engagement and consultation. The process is expected to help local authorities improve their data and digital maturity concerning children's social care services. An online engagement event is scheduled for 20 February 2025, following the end of market engagement on 17 February 2025. The procurement will cover various UK regions including North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, and South West. This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses capable of providing expertise in data and digital services within the social care sector. Companies, including SMEs and VCSEs, are encouraged to participate, especially those experienced in consultancy services related to children's social care, digital transformation, and data management. The project aims to establish a centre of excellence for children's social care data and digital support, providing potential growth in business scale and capacity building. Suppliers will have the opportunity to collaborate closely with the Department for Education and local authorities to develop and implement innovative solutions, share best practices, and facilitate knowledge exchange across the sector. ## Notice The purpose of this PIN is to initiate market consultation; it is not a call for tenders. The PIN is intended to: 1. Raise awareness with the market of a potential future procurement process, and to enable time for organisations to begin early discussions with the Department for Education (the department) and each other as to how they may be able to deliver any future contract. 2. Inform the market that the department will be undertaking market consultation activity, to gather information about the supply market; to explore potential delivery models and associated benefits of those models; and to inform its understanding of the risks and issues relevant to managing transition to, and mobilisation of, any new service arrangements. This will consist of an online event which will take place on 20 February 2025, time to be confirmed. If you are interested in joining this event, please contact emilie.wilkinson@education.gov.uk and sahir.iqbal@education.gov.uk who will arrange for an online invitation to be issued in due course. We intend to share the questions and answers from the events with all potential suppliers. This PIN, and the online event, relate to the department's interest in providing a support offer to help local authorities (LAs) improve their data and digital maturity with respect to children's social care (CSC) services, to help achieve the strategic objectives set out in the Children's Social Care Data and Digital Strategy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-data-and-digital-strategy/5106bf76-259a-474c-acd3-b187812007c6): supporting strong data culture and leadership; supporting systems and technology to meet sector need; and improving the data we collect, share, and use. There is an estimated budget of PS750K - PS1m for year one (25/26), with expectations (subject to future funding decisions) to grow spend to approximately PS2m per year for a further 2 years. We are looking for a supplier (or consortia of suppliers) to scope, test and begin delivering a support offer to the sector, as a centre of excellence for children's social care data and digital, to help build the sector's data and digital capacity. We expect it to involve: - working with the department and LAs to co-develop a vision and action plans for a data and digitally mature sector - providing expertise on CSC data and digital, including hands-on support with specific LAs - helping LAs optimise how they configure and tailor their digital case management systems - developing and maintaining tools and resources that meet the needs of users - research to provide a more detailed picture of CSC data quality, identifying where to focus improvements - facilitating knowledge sharing, innovation, and collaboration between LAs, to share guidance, best practice and ideas - career and skills development to grow capability and capacity Additional information: This procurement will be run either on PCR15 or PA23 regulations, depending on the date of publication ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fd848d6e-7db7-4312-9121-fb26dce7be2d | | Notice type | Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Not specified | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 3 Feb 2025 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 17 Feb 2025 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION | | Locality | MANCHESTER OFFICE | | Post town | Manchester | | Postcode | M1 2WD | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLD North West (England) | | ITL 2 | TLD3 Greater Manchester | | ITL 3 | TLD33 Manchester | | Local authority | Manchester | | Electoral ward | Piccadilly | | Westminster constituency | Manchester Central | | Delivery location | TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLE Yorkshire and The Humber, TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLI London, TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ### Codes - 72220000 - Systems and technical consultancy services ## Release History - 3 Feb 2025 at 13:56 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fd848d6e-7db7-4312-9121-fb26dce7be2d ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fd848d6e-7db7-4312-9121-fb26dce7be2d 3rd February 2025 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/4f8896d7-6f1e-4efd-a0c5-035415eeb105 n/a ## Notice URLs - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-data-and-digital-strategy/5106bf76-259a-474c-acd3-b187812007c6 ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-7977f317-baf1-43d0-a750-17bae9545851.json.