---
title: "Invitation to bid for the Academy Ambassadors service - please note that this is a grant."
ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158.json"
source: "Contracts Finder"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION"
published: "2018-12-03"
---

# Invitation to bid for the Academy Ambassadors service - please note that this is a grant.

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-b5fd17-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158

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## Summary

The Department for Education is managing the procurement process for the Academy Ambassadors service, with an award value of £1.55 million (inclusive of VAT) aimed at enhancing the governance of academy trusts across the United Kingdom. This opportunity, classified under Education and Training Services (CPV Code: 80000000), is currently in the award stage, following the completion of the tender period which ended on 19 January 2018. The contract is set to commence on 1 April 2018, with an expected end date of 31 March 2020. The procurement method employed is an open procedure below threshold, indicating broad eligibility for potential suppliers.

This tender presents significant growth opportunities for businesses with expertise in strategic recruitment, particularly those that can effectively match high-calibre business leaders with educational institutions. Companies that are well-suited to participate in this process include consultancy services focused on education, human resource specialists, and non-profit organisations that have demonstrated success in fostering board governance. Additionally, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations are encouraged to bid, especially those with innovative approaches to improving governance in challenging educational environments.

## Notice

Governing boards, including the boards of academy trusts, are the vision setters and strategic decision makers for their schools. Their role includes creating robust accountability for executive leaders by using and being familiar with objective data on the performance of pupils, teachers and finances in order to ask the right questions. It means ensuring resources are allocated to strategic priorities and safeguarding the highest standards of financial propriety. The Academy Ambassadors service exists to help academy trusts to recruit high-calibre individuals from the world of business to their boards, where they will join others with complementary forms of expertise to fulfil the role described above (and set out in more detail in the Governance Handbook and the Academies Financial Handbook). The Department is looking for an exceptional organisation to deliver the Academy Ambassadors service; and in particular in areas where the challenges of educational underperformance and low social mobility are greatest. We will grant fund the organisation for two years from 1 April 2018 (with the Department retaining the option to extend the grant for a third year upon agreement from the provider). We are accepting bids from organisations that have the capability and a clear strategy for achieving our aims for the recruitment of high-calibre business leaders to the boards of academy trusts. The provider will be expected to deliver two principle functions. * Matching high calibre business leaders with academy trusts. * Helping business leaders taking part in the programme to understand the context of the programme and the role of a trustee (NED) on academy boards. Additional information: We envisage awarding a grant in the region of PS1.55m (inclusive of VAT) covering the years 2018-19 and 2019-20. The department retains the option to extend the grant for a third year upon agreement from the provider).

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Contracts Finder |
| Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/873ad5c1-cf40-4bc8-9432-fe25956d3f67 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure (below threshold) |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 3 Dec 2018 |
| Submission deadline | 19 Jan 2018 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 27 Mar 2018 |
| Contract period | 31 Mar 2018 - 31 Mar 2020 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £1,550,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £1,550,000 |
| 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 |
| Post town | 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 | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | NEW SCHOOLS NETWORK |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 80 - Education and training services

### Codes

- 80000000 - Education and training services

## Release History

- 3 Dec 2018 at 12:45 - AwardUpdate - Award Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/873ad5c1-cf40-4bc8-9432-fe25956d3f67
- 29 Mar 2018 at 09:53 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/873ad5c1-cf40-4bc8-9432-fe25956d3f67
- 11 Jan 2018 at 12:52 - TenderAmendment - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d54e3f26-140b-48b6-98a9-968a53d3113d
- 14 Dec 2017 at 16:12 - TenderAmendment - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d54e3f26-140b-48b6-98a9-968a53d3113d
- 14 Dec 2017 at 13:34 - TenderAmendment - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d54e3f26-140b-48b6-98a9-968a53d3113d
- 14 Dec 2017 at 13:05 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d54e3f26-140b-48b6-98a9-968a53d3113d

## Documents

- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/873ad5c1-cf40-4bc8-9432-fe25956d3f67
  3rd December 2018 - Awarded contract notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/d54e3f26-140b-48b6-98a9-968a53d3113d
  11th January 2018 - Opportunity notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/9c89c7fb-7e6f-40a4-8f97-254d906b27f5
  Invitation to bid
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/5b76202e-1568-4d6b-88d2-bac41609c2af
  Question and Answer document

## 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-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-c803a6ac-35a4-4a02-9148-574bea85e158.json.