CPT_25_03 Specialist Audit Services Framework

The National Audit Office (NAO) is the UK's independent public spending watchdog. The NAO supports Parliament in holding government to account and helps improve public services through its high-quality audits.

The NAO are establishing a Specialist Audit and Assurance services framework to support the high-quality delivery of our portfolio of financial audits within the public sector.

We are seeking to access knowledge and wider expertise held within firms across several financial audit areas to support our strategic priority of delivering high quality audits.

The NAO's Specialist Audit Services Framework will be fundamental to achieving our strategic goals by enhancing the quality and impact of our financial audit work. Partnering with other audit firms enables us to deliver higher quality and value for government bodies, ensuring effective accountability to Parliament and taxpayers. We are dedicated to investing in our supplier relationships and recognise the mutual opportunities this collaboration creates for enhancing the productivity and resilience of public services.

Access to the knowledge and expertise within firms is crucial for improving financial reporting and management in the public sector. Leveraging external market expertise fosters innovation in addressing the challenges currently faced in public sector finance. Combining the NAO's client knowledge with supplier firms' innovations and skills offers an enhanced audit experience for our public sector clients.

The purpose of this framework is to collaborate with supplier firms, ensuring our audit work benefits from specialised expertise to deliver quality outcomes for our clients and improvements for the public sector. This relationship also facilitates the sharing of skills, knowledge, and strategic insights between the NAO and the firms. Additionally, working alongside private sector firms allows the NAO to benchmark its efficiency and methodologies, providing valuable comparisons of costs and approaches, a key interest for Parliament.

The framework will be divided into 5 lots as follows:

• Lot 1 - Pensions

• Lot 2 - Property

• Lot 3 - Digital

• Lot 4 - Tax

• Lot 5 - Financial Instruments

We are seeking to award a place to up to maximum of 4 suppliers for each of the 5 lots and interested suppliers will be able to submit a bid for all 5 lots in total.

This means if a single supplier bids for the maximum 5 lots and meets our required criteria and otherwise qualify for the award, they will be awarded a place on all 5 lots.

The new framework will run for 4 years from Monday 8th December 2025 until Friday 7th December 2029 with the estimated value of the framework being up to £21m inclusive of VAT (£5.25m per annum).

The £21m figure includes an element of contingency and assumptions over additional services that may be procured in addition to the specialist audit services as set out in Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation.