UpcomingPlanned procurementIT services

Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS – Alpha[E15]

London, United KingdomDepartment for Education[E1]

In plain English

What they want: 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.
Who can bid: No restrictions are stated in the notice data. The tender documents may set more.
Expected deadline: Not stated
Published 27 Oct 2026.
Value: GBP 300,000
Buyer: Department for EducationSee what else this buyer buys and when.
How to apply: Through the buyer's official process. Open the original notice on UK Find a Tender (OCDS) (opens in a new tab) ↗
Tender documents: The tender documents for this notice are on the buyer's own portal, usually behind a free supplier registration. We link to them and do not fetch them, so the report is based on the notice only.

Your tender documents

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Expected deadline: Not stated
Value[E16]: GBP 300,000
Published[E13]: 27 Oct 2026
Procedure: Not stated
Source: UK Find a Tender (OCDS) (opens in a new tab)
Last checked: 14 hours ago

About the requirement

From the 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 …[E8]

Eligibility and requirements

ConditionThe legal basis is UKPGA 2023/54 (Procurement Act 2023).[E9]
ConditionThe buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.[E10]
ConditionThe buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for voluntary, community and social enterprises.[E11]
DetailLot 1 runs from 4 Jan 2027 to 31 Mar 2027, extendable to 30 Sep 2027.[E6]
The notice data states no restriction on who may bid. Exclusion grounds and selection criteria in the tender documents still apply.

Risks and unknowns

RiskBidding has not opened. Scope and dates can change before the call for competition.[E12]
UnknownNo submission deadline we could read in the notice data.
UnknownWe read the published notice, not the full tender documents.

Updates

First seen · 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC
The source published a planning or prior information notice. Bidding has not opened.
Source document 101423-2026

Evidence

16 facts

Every fact on this page comes from the published notice. Each entry shows the document and the field it was read from.

E1
The buyer is Department for Education.
Document 101423-2026, field /buyer/name, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E2
The notice is classified under CPV 72263000 (Software implementation services).
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/items/0/additionalClassifications/1/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E3
The notice is classified under CPV 72266000 (Software consultancy services).
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/items/0/additionalClassifications/3/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E4
The notice is classified under CPV 72265000 (Software configuration services).
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/items/0/additionalClassifications/2/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E5
The notice is classified under CPV 72262000 (Software development services).
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/items/0/additionalClassifications/0/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E6
Lot 1 runs from 4 Jan 2027 to 31 Mar 2027, extendable to 30 Sep 2027.
“2027-01-04T00:00:00+00:00 to 2027-03-31T23:59:59+01:00”
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/lots/0/contractPeriod, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E7
The buyer's address is in United Kingdom.
Document 101423-2026, field /parties/0/address/country, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E8
The buyer describes the requirement in the 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 enabl…”
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/description, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E9
The legal basis is UKPGA 2023/54 (Procurement Act 2023).
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/legalBasis/id, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E10
The buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
“sme: true”
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/lots/0/suitability/sme, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E11
The buyer marks lot 1 as suitable for voluntary, community and social enterprises.
“vcse: true”
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/lots/0/suitability/vcse, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E12
This is a planning or market engagement notice. Bidding has not opened.
“planningUpdate”
Document 101423-2026, field /tag, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E13
The notice was published on 27 Oct 2026.
“2026-10-27T11:19:56Z”
Document 101423-2026, field /date, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E14
Find a Tender gives the tender status as planning.
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/status, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E15
The notice is titled "Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS – Alpha".
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/title, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)
E16
The stated value is GBP 300,000 excluding VAT.
“300000 GBP”
Document 101423-2026, field /tender/value/amount, read 28 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC · source (opens in a new tab)

Contains public sector information from Find a Tender, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 (opens in a new tab). Personal contact details in notices are not stored or shown.

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Your fit

Original notice