Official UK procurement notice
The Provision of a Part-Time NSETS/JNC Endorsed Professional Formation Programme in Youth Work
Authority: the Education Authority (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe primary purpose of this preliminary market engagement exercise (“Exercise”) is for the Education Authority (EA) to seek supplier views and feedback on potential approaches for the provision of a learning provider for Part-time Pathways to Employment Programme in line with the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC). Further information on the project is detailed within Background Information Section of this document.
The EA is seeking to appoint suppliers to provide professional formation programmes in youth work for an undergraduate programme for an initial 20-30 students, for a period of study of up to 4-years. Within the contract period, further cohorts may be added, and we would anticipate that any contract would be extended until participants have completed their studies though the EA give no guarantees of numbers of participants. Secondly, a Postgraduate programme is required for 15 students, a master’s programme for 5-10 students which meet the JNC Qualification standards for a professional career in youth work.
As part of this procurement exercise the Education Authority is seeking to understand the market capacity to provide a range of education opportunities to support the development of a suitably qualified and highly skilled workforce. This pre-market engagement exercise is intended to establish capacity, delivery models and commercial arrangements that may be available.
The EA Pathways to Employment Programme will require the supplier to address and provide their approach to the below requirements.
- Education Authority requirements in relation to our Pathways Scheme
- Capacity to offer university places for an initial cohort of between 20-30 undergraduate places over the next 4 years.
- Availability to provide up to 15 Postgraduate study places
- Capacity to facilitate 5-10 Masters places
- Cohort-based provision with greater flexibility and value for money than individual enrolment
- Flexibility to offer a block period of teaching to support part-time study towards the successful completion of modules
- Course tuition to be facilitated at EA premises for a minimum of 50% of programme delivery
- Residential teaching as an option to support academic progress
- Entry requirements in relation to EA Youth Service and the designated university stipulated
- Specific course content relating to the Northern Ireland context included
- Content of course modules, student placements and required finance agreed for each programme in advance of programme start date
CPV: Education and training services · Higher education services · Secondary education services · Youth education services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How the Education Authority buys Youth education services (CPV 8031), and who usually turns up
the Education Authority’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Youth education services (CPV 8031) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 31 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid17% / 38%
2–319% / 13%
4–623% / 25%
7+41% / 25%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate35% / 13%
Within ±2%53% / 75%
Above estimate12% / 13%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 80Published estimate£1.0m
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 80. The comparison uses that group.
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 47 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid26%
2–332%
4–617%
7+26%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Below threshold
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 6 Oct 2026, 11:49 BST
- Last source update
- 6 Oct 2026, 11:49 BST
- Authority reference
BSP-24-012- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-094188- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078184Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
6 Oct 2026 → 1 Feb 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published23 days ago6 Oct 2026, 11:49 BST
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 32h30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
Suppliers are invited to attend a PME Presentation to be delivered via MS Teams on Wednesday 22 October 2026, time to be confirmed. If your organisation would like to attend, please provide contract details of your nominated attendees to via email to business.procure@eani.org.uk by 3pm on Monday 19 October to allow us to issue invites.
- Tender notice expectedin 29 days27 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 94 days1 Feb 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published6 Oct 2026, 11:49 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender