Register of External Expertise Contract Notice

The Secretary of State for Education acting through the Department for Education (DfE) is inviting bids from individuals and organisations to create a register (the Register of External Experts or RoEE) of individuals who have expertise and experience at a senior level in the education sector to provide advice to the DfE when the DfE's need for advice arises (External Experts).

Bidders are invited to bid against a series of four broad areas or 'categories'. Within those categories, individuals will be invited to confirm their ability to provide advice in a number of expertise areas. Individuals will be expected to meet minimum mandatory requirements and meet minimum thresholds of expertise to be appointed to the RoEE.

The categories are as follows:

In total there are over 60 areas of expertise we are seeking to recruit. As examples, these include experience of leading and developing Free Schools, University Technical Colleges and Academy Trusts. We are looking for demonstrable experience specifically gained in the Education sector, including school improvement, governance, curriculum, risk, safeguarding, financial and behaviour management and recruitment. We need high-quality expertise in managing schools estates, early years, alternative provision, special educational needs and higher/further education. Please see the procurement specification for the full range of requirements.

When allocating places on the RoEE, the DfE will aim to ensure that specialist categories are adequately covered, whilst also encouraging applications from those with a broad range of experience and expertise. We also seek to ensure sufficient geographical coverage across the eight Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) areas in England.

The DfE intend to award the RoEE places to a maximum of 200 External Experts. Following the initial award of the RoEE, the DfE will review the coverage of the expertise and regions. If the DfE finds expertise and/or regions without adequate coverage, then it will re-open the RoEE to allow new applicants. Previous applicants not appointed to the RoEE initially, are able to re-apply for a place on the RoEE in respect of those gaps. The DfE reserves the right to increase the total number External Experts appointed to the RoEE during any re-openings as required to ensure adequate coverage of all the expertise and regions identified. Notification of a re-opening opportunity will be by way of an advert issued in Contracts Finder only (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder). The advert will confirm the expertise and/or Regions being sought. Any material change to the framework categories will result in a new procurement exercise.

Appointment to the RoEE does not guarantee the award of any work. Appointment to the RoEE allows External Experts to bid for specific work opportunities made available by the DfE.

Additional information:

This procurement is being conducted in accordance with Regulations 74 to 76 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, which applies to contracts such as those for education and training services. The procurement process has been developed in accordance with Regulations 74 to 76 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

The Framework will be for a 4 year period commencing 04/04/2021 until 03/04/2025 with no further optional extensions