---
title: "Provision of Books and Reading Materials for Secondary School"
ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888.json"
source: "Contracts Finder"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Department for Education"
published: "2026-09-02"
---

# Provision of Books and Reading Materials for Secondary School

Buyer: Department for Education  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-b5fd17-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888

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## Summary

The Department for Education procured books, reading materials and associated services for eligible secondary schools in England, as part of the National Year of Reading. The purpose is to encourage reading for pleasure and support literacy outcomes. The requirement covers printed books, library books, dictionaries, maps, music books and other reading materials, together with an online ordering platform, order fulfilment, delivery, spend management and management information reporting. Schools across England, including the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands, the West Midlands, the East of England, London, the South East and the South West, can use the service. This is primarily a managed book-supply and fulfilment service rather than a standalone purchase of printed materials.

The procurement is complete and was awarded following a further competition under the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium Framework Agreement LIB4061SU, Lot 1. It used a selective, framework call-off procedure. The tender deadline was 31 July 2026 at 12:00. The contract was awarded on 20 August 2026 to A T Little & Sons Ltd trading as Browns Books, with an awarded value of £5,000,000 including the published procurement value. The contract period runs from 20 August 2026 to 31 March 2027. Eligible schools may purchase books and reading materials up to their allocated funding value. The opportunity was identified as suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the requirement was classified as services.

This award demonstrates substantial, centrally funded demand for a supplier able to serve secondary schools across England through a coordinated national operation. A credible future competitor would need a broad catalogue of printed and library books, dictionaries, maps, music books and other educational reading materials, alongside reliable sourcing and stock management. It would also need a robust online ordering platform, accurate order fulfilment and delivery across multiple English regions, with the capacity to manage individual school allocations and spending limits. Spend management and clear management information reporting are core capabilities, so suppliers should be able to provide transparent transaction records and useful reports to the Department for Education and participating schools. The requirement is suitable for an SME-scale provider with strong educational supply-chain and service-delivery capability.

## Notice

As part of the National Year of Reading, the Department for Education (DfE) is providing PS 5milllion to eligible secondary schools in England to purchase books and reading materials to encourage reading for pleasure and support literacy outcomes. The contract has been awarded to A T Little & Sons Ltd T/A Browns Books for the provision of books, reading materials and associated services, including an online ordering platform, order fulfilment , delivery , spend management and management information reporting. Eligible schools will be able to purchase books and reading materials up to their allocated funding value. This contract was awarded following a further competition under the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC) Framework Agreement LIB4061SU, Lot 1

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Contracts Finder |
| Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/b34e38c1-233b-43de-804c-dcfba3981ea9 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Framework |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Selective |
| Procurement method details | Call-off from a framework agreement |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 2 Sep 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 20 Aug 2026 |
| Contract period | 20 Aug 2026 - 31 Mar 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £5,000,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £5,000,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Department for Education |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Postcode area | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 3BT |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| 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) |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | Browns Books |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 22 - Printed matter and related products

### Codes

- 22100000 - Printed books, brochures and leaflets
- 22110000 - Printed books
- 22113000 - Library books
- 22114000 - Dictionaries, maps, music books and other books

## Release History

- 2 Sep 2026 at 12:40 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/b34e38c1-233b-43de-804c-dcfba3981ea9

## Documents

- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/b34e38c1-233b-43de-804c-dcfba3981ea9
  2nd September 2026 - Awarded contract notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/8a9d51e9-7f34-4ea4-a899-8999b5eaa2cf
  n/a

## 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-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-b0b151d8-f17f-420f-8e03-02271ac7f888.json.