---
title: "ID 1032027/L8 Legal Services for Strategic Partner Services & School Management System Solution Project"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY"
published: "2026-07-24"
---

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

Buyer: THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8

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## Summary

The Education Authority, based in Belfast, has completed the procurement process for the provision of legal services related to the Strategic Partner Services and School Management System Solution project. Tagged under services, the procurement falls within the legal services industry category. The location for the delivery of services is within the UKN region. This award stage of the procurement involved a contract initially set for three years from 11th January 2022, with a modification extending it until 31st March 2028. The contract, valued at £462,500, was awarded to Carson McDowell LLP following a limited procurement method without prior publication, under the grounds of Regulation 72 (1)(b) of the PCR, 2015.

This tender represents a significant opportunity for businesses specialising in legal services, especially those familiar with educational frameworks and strategic support projects. The focus on continuity and retention of expertise favours well-established legal service providers who can offer consistent and informed advisory roles. Firms that have a deep understanding of public sector procurement and can adapt to the legal and regulatory requirements within the education sector are best suited to compete in such projects. This contract allows businesses to strengthen their portfolio of public sector clients and showcase their expertise in complex procurement settings.

## Notice

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.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/070491-2026 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 24 Jul 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £462,500 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY |
| Locality | BELFAST |
| Post town | Northern Ireland |
| Postcode | BT1 2NQ |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| ITL 1 | TLN Northern Ireland |
| ITL 2 | TLN0 Northern Ireland |
| ITL 3 | TLN06 Belfast |
| Local authority | Belfast |
| Electoral ward | Duncairn |
| Westminster constituency | Belfast North |
| Delivery location | TLN Northern Ireland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | CARSON MCDOWELL |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79100000 - Legal services

## Release History

- 24 Jul 2026 at 16:12 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/070491-2026

## Notice URLs

- https://carson-mcdowell.com/
- https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps
- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:297736-2017:TEXT:EN:HTML

## 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-h6vhtk-06d3b8. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06d3b8.json.