---
title: "Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS - Alpha"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "Department for Education"
published: "2026-10-27"
---

# Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS - Alpha

Buyer: Department for Education  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e

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## Summary

The Department for Education is planning an Alpha phase to test how school management information systems (MIS) can connect to its Get an Identifier service. The programme aims to use NHS Numbers as a single identifier for children across safeguarding services, with authorised access to NHS numbers and GP details from NHS England’s Personal Demographics Service. The work includes integrating MIS platforms, supporting participating schools with onboarding, testing and implementation, and supporting live operation during the Alpha. Suppliers will also provide evidence to inform decisions about whether and how the service could be rolled out nationally. The buyer intends to involve up to two MIS suppliers. Delivery involves participating schools; no specific place of delivery is stated.

This is at planning stage: the Department has described an intended procurement, but has not issued an invitation to tender or committed to proceeding. It plans preliminary market engagement, with a Microsoft Teams session for school MIS suppliers and an optional follow-up questionnaire; feedback will inform its procurement strategy and requirements, not be scored. The buyer expects to publish a further notice by 9 November 2026. The planned contract period is 4 January to 31 March 2027, with a possible extension to 30 September 2027. The estimated value is £300,000 excluding VAT (£360,000 including VAT). There is one lot. Suppliers must be the school’s contracted core MIS provider and process pupil demographic data for those schools under that contract; failure to meet this condition means exclusion.

This work is suited to established school MIS suppliers with active school contracts and experience handling pupil demographic data. Suppliers need the capability to integrate their platforms with a government-hosted service that provides authorised access to NHS identity and GP information, and to complete NHS England onboarding and assurance. Delivery also calls for capacity to work with participating schools on onboarding, testing, implementation and live operation, and to report on effort, costs, timescales, technical barriers and operational effects. The Alpha is intended to test feasibility, supplier readiness, implementation complexity, user value, scalability and delivery options, so suppliers able to provide evidence and contribute to evaluation will be relevant. The Department says SMEs and voluntary, community and social enterprises are encouraged, and will consider consortia and collaborative bids.

## Notice

The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking to engage with the market in advance of a planned procurement for the Alpha phase of the Single Unique Identifier (SUI) programme. The SUI programme aims to improve the identification of children across safeguarding services by enabling the use of NHS Numbers as a Single Unique Identifier. The Alpha phase will test the integration of school Management Information System (MIS) platforms with the DfE-hosted Get an Identifier service, enabling authorised access to NHS numbers and GP details from NHS England's Personal Demographics Service. DfE intends to appoint up to two MIS suppliers to participate in the Alpha phase. Successful suppliers will be expected to: * integrate their MIS platform with the DfE-hosted Get an Identifier service; * support onboarding, testing and implementation activities with participating schools; * complete relevant NHS England onboarding and assurance activities; * support live operation during the Alpha phase; * provide evidence on implementation effort, costs, timescales, technical barriers and operational impacts; and contribute to evaluation activities to inform future decisions regarding national rollout. The Alpha phase is intended to generate evidence on technical feasibility, implementation complexity, supplier readiness, operational requirements, user value, scalability and future delivery model. Nothing contained within this notice, the market engagement event, any supporting materials, or the follow-up questionnaire shall be taken as a commitment by the Department for Education to commence a procurement, award a contract, enter into any agreement, or provide funding. Information provided during the engagement is indicative only and may be subject to change. The DfE is keen to maximise opportunities to participate in procurement for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs). Consideration will also be given to consortia and collaborative bids from all forms of organisations. Essential eligibility criterion: Suppliers must have an active contractual relationship with schools as their core MIS supplier and must process pupil demographic data on behalf of those schools under that contract. Suppliers that do not meet this requirement will be excluded from the procurement.

### Planning Information

The Department for Education intends to undertake preliminary market engagement through:
A live Microsoft Teams market engagement session will be held with interested suppliers operating within the school Management Information System market.
provide an overview of the Single Unique Identifier (SUI) Alpha programme;
explain the proposed Alpha objectives and scope;
outline the anticipated procurement approach;
discuss the proposed technical integration requirements;
provide information on onboarding, assurance and delivery expectations;
allow suppliers to ask questions and seek clarification; and
gather initial feedback from the market regarding feasibility, risks, timescales and implementation considerations.
Attendance at the event is voluntary and will not form part of any future evaluation process.
Following the market engagement event, suppliers will be invited to complete an optional Microsoft Forms questionnaire.
The questionnaire will be used to gather feedback on:
supplier capability and capacity;
proposed delivery approaches;
technical integration considerations;
indicative implementation timescales;
onboarding and assurance requirements;
potential risks and dependencies;
market appetite to participate in the Alpha phase; and
any other observations that may assist DfE in refining the procurement strategy and requirements.
Responses will be considered solely for market engagement purposes and will not be scored or evaluated as part of any future procurement process.
If you are interested in attending this market engagement please register via Jaggaer before the event.
Once registered, the supplier event area can be accessed by clicking "View Opportunities" on the main page.
By registering for this market engagement event, you acknowledge that the information shared through this market engagement is provided in confidence and must not be disclosed outside your organisation. Please ensure all attendees from your organisation are aware of and comply with this requirement.
Please register for Jaggaer using the URL link below: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html
Following registration, you will receive a message via the Jaggaer portal asking you to confirm this acknowledgement. You must respond in confirmation to this message before an event invite will be issued.
Participants who have registered an expression of interest will receive a link to join the session via Microsoft Teams.
If you do not receive the invite at least 24hrs before the event, please also email Core.PROCUREMENT@education.gov.uk to ensure you receive joining instructions in time.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/101423-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| 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 | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 9 Nov 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 4 Jan 2027 - 31 Mar 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £300,000 |
| 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 | 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 | Not specified |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72262000 - Software development services
- 72263000 - Software implementation services
- 72265000 - Software configuration services
- 72266000 - Software consultancy services

## Release History

- 27 Oct 2026 at 11:19 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/101423-2026
- 23 Oct 2026 at 14:12 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/100540-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/101423-2026
  27th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/100540-2026
  23rd October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html
- 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-078f1e. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-078f1e.json.