--- title: "Preliminary Market Engagement for Education Software Suite" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-07768e" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-07768e" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-07768e.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-07768e.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Halton Borough Council" published: "2026-09-21" --- # Preliminary Market Engagement for Education Software Suite Buyer: Halton Borough Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-07768e [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-07768e) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-07768e.json) ## Summary Halton Borough Council is exploring an integrated education services software suite to support its Education Services. The proposed solution would replace or provide an alternative to the Council’s current Access Synergy system, covering admissions, Early Years funding and provider management, free school meals, school access to admissions and entitlements, and special educational needs and disabilities. It would also cover pupil support services, education welfare, exclusions, alternative provision, elective home education, family hubs, entertainment licences and chaperones, together with flexible education case management. Required functionality includes referrals, assessments, plans, placements, funding, workflows, document management, correspondence, reporting and statutory returns. The Council wants a modern, secure platform that enables appropriate information sharing across services. Delivery is for Halton Borough Council in Halton, Cheshire. This procurement is at preliminary market engagement and planning stage; it is not an invitation to tender. The Council is seeking information on available functionality, technology, integration opportunities, implementation approaches and indicative costs before deciding its future procurement. Suppliers are expected to complete and submit the engagement documentation through The Chest e-procurement facility, with questions and correspondence handled through its messaging function. The buyer’s scheduled submission deadline for the engagement response is 11am on 9 October 2026. The planned contract period is shown as starting and ending on 1 November 2026. The procurement is identified as software packages and information systems, with one planned lot. No contract value or budget is stated. This engagement will suit suppliers of education management platforms, local-authority software and integrated case-management systems preparing for a future competition. Relevant capability includes end-to-end school admissions, Early Years and childcare funding, free school meals, SEND, pupil support, family hubs and education welfare functionality, alongside secure portals for schools, parents and professionals. Suppliers should be able to demonstrate configurable workflows, referrals, assessments, case records, chronology, document and correspondence management, alerts, audit trails, reporting and statutory data production. Integration experience is important, including data imports and exports, provider information, Ofsted feeds and information sharing across services. The Council is particularly interested in a single modern, secure platform covering children, young people, families, providers and cases. ## Notice Halton Borough Council is undertaking preliminary market engagement to understand the current software solutions available to support the delivery of its Education Services. The Council is currently an Access Synergy customer and is seeking to test the market and review the range of alternative solutions available. The purpose of this exercise is to understand current market capability, functionality, technology, integration opportunities, implementation approaches and indicative costs for a modern Education Services software solution. The Council is interested in solutions that can support a number of Education Service functions, ideally through an integrated platform. The anticipated scope includes the following key functional areas: * Admissions - supporting the end-to-end school admissions process, including applications, preferences, eligibility, allocations, offers, waiting lists, appeals, correspondence and reporting. Creation, export and importing of statutory admission files. * FIS / Early Years - supporting Early Years services, including funding, eligibility, applications, provider management, claims, payments, reconciliation and reporting, EY Census production. FIS Childcare Directory, 'OFSTED Feed' api data import * Free School Meals (FSM) - supporting applications, eligibility, verification, notifications, records and reporting. * SAM - supports the LA's Schools, (School Admissions Module), allows school to access their admissions round allocation and FSM entitlement for their children in Realtime. * SEND - supporting the end-to-end management of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities processes, including referrals, assessments, EHC needs assessments and plans, parent and professional portals, reviews, consultations, placements, provision, funding, correspondence, transport and statutory reporting (SEN2). * PSS - supporting Pupil Support Services requirements, including referrals, case management, interventions, actions, outcomes, professional involvement and reporting. Work of Education Welfare Team, penalty notices, Exclusions, AP, EOTAS, Elective home education, Entertainment Licences and chaperones * Children's Centres (Hubs) - capturing activity data across Family Hubs within the Borough and reporting. * EIS - Case Management - providing flexible case management functionality to support workflows, referrals, tasks, alerts, contacts, chronology, document management, correspondence, assessments, outcomes, audit trails and reporting. The Council is particularly interested in solutions that provide a single, modern and secure platform, enabling appropriate information to be shared across services and providing a consistent approach to the management of children, young people, families, providers, cases and associated information. ### Planning Information Access to the documentation to be completed and submitted is via The Chest e-procurement facility (www.the-chest.org.uk) Project ID - DN830291 All dialogue and correspondence must be via the portal, suppliers should use the 'messages' facility for questions/queries and the completed document with supporting information should be uploaded via the portal prior to the deadline at 11am on 09/10/2026. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/089205-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Goods | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 21 Sep 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | Not specified | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Nov 2026 - 1 Nov 2026 | | 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 | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | Halton Borough Council | | Locality | WIDNES | | Postcode area | Warrington | | Postcode | WA8 7QF | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLD North West (England) | | ITL 2 | TLD7 Merseyside | | ITL 3 | TLD71 East Merseyside | | Local authority | Halton | | Electoral ward | Central & West Bank | | Westminster constituency | Widnes and Halewood | | Delivery location | TLD71 East Merseyside | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 48 - Software package and information systems ### Codes - 48000000 - Software package and information systems ## Release History - 21 Sep 2026 at 14:19 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/089205-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/089205-2026 21st September 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## 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-07768e. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-07768e.json.