Procurement at DfE

Bidding for Department for Education (DfE) contracts.

UK procurement law

We must follow UK laws that govern how we may buy goods, services and works over a specified value or 鈥榯hreshold鈥�.

If we expect the estimated value of a contract to be over the relevant threshold, we must advertise our requirements on the Find a Tender service.

The Cabinet Office publishes the procurement thresholds.

Procurement Act 2023

Transforming public procurement has information about how we are improving the way we procure supplies, services and works for the public sector.

As part of these improvements, the were laid in Parliament in March 2024. The official record of the bill鈥檚 progress through Parliament is available on .

Information is available on .

Contracting opportunities

The Department for Education (DfE) does not respond to unsolicited marketing. We advertise opportunities in the following ways.

Latest contracting opportunities

We, and our executive agencies, advertise new contracting opportunities in these places, where appropriate:

Future opportunities

We notify suppliers of future opportunities by:

D-U-N-S Number

All registered businesses in the UK and Ireland have a D鈥慤鈥慛鈥慡 Number. This number provides us with valuable information about which suppliers are bidding for our contracts. Use this form to if you do not have one.

Prompt payment policy

We follow government policy and pay all correctly submitted invoices within 5 days of receiving them.

Educational and Children鈥檚 Social Care Framework

The Educational and Children鈥檚 Social Care Framework (ECSC Framework) will replace the Educational and Children鈥檚 Social Care Professionals Dynamic Purchasing System (ECSC DPS) in Autumn 2024.

The ECSC Framework will be the procurement route for individual specialists, advisers and experts to support government policy in schools and local authorities.

The existing ECSC DPS will be wound down towards its current end date of March 2026, but remains active for now.

Suppliers can register their interest in the new framework by:

  • registering on Jaggaer
  • following the process set out in the

Email the commercial contact point team if you have any queries: [email protected].

Jaggaer: the DfE etendering portal

Jaggaer is an etendering system used by DfE and its executive agencies. It is a password-protected online service.

As a potential supplier, you should register with Jaggaer so you can:

  • view opportunities to tender
  • submit tender responses

Terms and conditions for DfE contracts

To find out which terms and conditions apply when bidding for a particular DfE contract, contact the person named in the advertisement and tender documentation.

We usually use the following contracts:

The terms and conditions are regularly updated. We may augment them with a small number of DfE-specific terms and conditions.

Where buying from a framework, we use the corresponding framework terms and conditions. Again, we may augment these terms with a small number of DfE-specific terms and conditions.

Purchase orders

Our purchase orders (documents that ask a company to supply goods and give details of price, method and date of payment) are subject to our (PDF, 148 KB, 8 pages).

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for government鈥檚 most important contracts

A list of central government鈥檚聽most important contracts is available. This shows up to 4 relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) and the performance of the vendor against those KPIs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

We aim to maximise opportunities for SMEs to participate in our procurement opportunities, by:

  • encouraging competition
  • reducing barriers to participation

We encourage SMEs to work with us directly or as part of the supply chain by:

  • having a tender process that treats SMEs fairly
  • supporting commercial relationships between DfE, SMEs and larger organisations
  • monitoring our SME spend and reporting to Cabinet Office for publication

Opportunities for SMEs

We advertise new opportunities on Contracts Finder.

We also run innovation days at which suppliers can meet each other and showcase what they offer. We advertise these on and .

How we procure and work with SMEs

Our SME action plan outlines how DfE procures and works with SMEs.

For queries or feedback about the DfE SME action plan, email [email protected].

Find out more about the relationship between the government and small businesses from the Small Business Crown Representative, Shirley Cooper OBE.

For queries about the work of the Cabinet Office Small Business Team, email [email protected].

Equality and diversity in procurement

All suppliers to DfE should demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity.

Public Sector Equality Duty guidance for suppliers

DfE is subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Equality Duty is relevant where we contract services that are:

  • delivered on DfE premises
  • carrying out a public function
  • employee facing
  • public or school facing

If organisations are delivering services under any of these categories, they will be under the same Equality Duty as the department. The (PDF, 118 KB, 2 pages) has more information.

How we process your personal data

DfE鈥檚 personal information charter contains the standards you can expect from us when we ask for and hold your personal information.

Find out more in (PDF, 128 KB, 2 pages).

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