Preliminary Market Engagement for the Supply of Stationery and School Supplies for Education Buying Group Ltd

Education Buying Group works in partnership with Education Buying and Churchmarketplace (for Catholic education settings) – delivering EBG frameworks and DPSs to education and supporting framework delivery and sector engagement.

This collaborative model ensures:

Clear governance through a school-led PSBO

Expert delivery through experienced procurement organisations

A single, compliant route to market for education buyers

For further information regarding Education Buying Group please visit: https://educationbuyinggroup.org.uk/

Education Buying Group Ltd (EBG Ltd) is inviting responses from providers of Stationery and School Supplies to this Preliminary Market Engagement process in anticipation of a planned Tender process in summer 2026. The current proposed procurement strategy is to procure a single-provider framework delivering all Stationery and School Supplies to our education and wider public sector customers across England and Wales. The anticipated value of the future framework will be set at £45,000,000 over the full 4 year duration of the Framework.

EBG Ltd welcomes consultation with providers and suppliers of this category via a brief questionnaire to understand and test our proposed procurement strategy, inclusions and seek innovative proposals prior to finalising a tender specification and tender process.

Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) is a “pre-procurement” process that enables contracting authorities and/or procurement agents acting on behalf of contracting authorities that are subject to the Procurement Act 2023 to seek responses from the market in a transparent, fair and equitable manner prior to any formal tender process.

The preliminary market engagement is your opportunity to influence the potential shape and solution of a future procurement process. Through this process you can express views and confirm latest product/service developments which may meet the need of the contracting authority.

This process is not a procurement process, although it may form part of a procurement process in the future and as such will be conducted in accordance with The Procurement Act 2023.

The Contracting Authority reserves the right to invite any/all respondents to a meeting/presentation/interview following the closing of the deadline for the receipt of questionnaires. The purpose of this invitation will be to understand and clarify further aspects of the response.

Neither this document nor any associated Preliminary Market Engagement Notice constitutes a ‘call for competition’.

The contracting authority/procurement agent may decide following this process that a future procurement process is not the right solution to meet the specific need identified.

No guarantee or warranty is given as to any statement made in these documents. Any information is given entirely in good faith and liable to change as the future procurement process progresses. Respondents are advised therefore to keep up to date on the progress of this process.

The contracting authority/procurement agent has an obligation to ensure the principles of equal treatment and transparency as required by The Procurement Act 2023 are upheld throughout this process. It may be required therefore to make available to future candidates and tenderers information provided during this PME process. Respondents should also be aware that in some cases contracting authorities are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and as such no information provided by the market can be deemed exempt from disclosure.

All costs and expenses associated with participating in this PME process, including any invitations to meetings and/or presentations will not be reimbursed.

Responses to this PME must be submitted no later than 12noon 29 May 2026 via the Delta e-Tendering Portal. All PME documents are available to download via the Delta e-Tendering Portal.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:

https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-Cardiff:-Stationery./6C5QW29X2A

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/6C5QW29X2A