RFP QuestBeta
OpenStage · tender 21 days to close

Department for Work and Pensions

Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for Employment and Health Related Test and Learn Provision

EducationCPV 80000000
Value£20.0m
Deadline17 Sept 2026
Published8 Feb 2024
RegionNationwide
Timeline
Published 8 Feb 202421 days leftCloses 17 Sept 2026
Who to contact
cd.test-learn@dwp.gov.uk

The procurement contact named on the official notice.

How to submit
Open the submissions portal

The submission route named on the official notice.

Contract value in context
£20.0mtotal contract value
median £84k
this tender£0£21.6m

This is a large award for Education & Training — above three-quarters of comparable contracts. Based on 23,516 valued Education & Training tenders in our corpus.

When this comes round again

Department for Work and Pensions publishes Education & Training work continuously — 212 notices, roughly one every 3 days. This is a stream to watch, not a cycle to wait for.

32% of Department for Work and Pensions’s awards go to a supplier it has used before.

Which is the argument for getting on the list rather than winning this one. The incumbent is rarely the last winner — it is the roster. See the retention odds by category →


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The brief

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has updated the 'Dynamic Purchasing System for Employment and Health Related Test and Learn Provision' Core Terms and Schedules (“Test and Learn DPS Contract”) alongside the Instructions to Potential Suppliers and Application Guidance documentation.

The updates to the Test and Learn DPS Contract shall take effect on 8th February 2024.

To summarise, the changes to the Test and Learn DPS are as follows: - Removal/replacement of certain European Union references; - Updated security call-off schedule; - Updated data processing provisions; - Addition of an optional staff transfer call-off schedule; - Change in the sequencing of signatures in the call-off award procedure so a buyer (rather than the supplier) will sign a call-off award form second; - Change in the approach to financial standing assessments with more focus placed on a detailed assessment to be undertaken at the call-off competition stage rather than when potential suppliers apply to be admitted to the DPS; and - Consequential amendments in light of changes referred to above.

DWP has also extended the anticipated duration of the Test and Learn DPS by an additional two years.

The Test and Learn DPS is open ended but now has a nominal end date of 30 September 2026 (which may be extended further).

The Test and Learn DPS Contract can be terminated by DWP with twenty (20) Working Days' notice.

Requirements

What the notice asks for

01

The updates to the Test and Learn

The updates to the Test and Learn DPS Contract shall take effect on 8th February 2024.

Sentences from the notice that state an obligation, surfaced automatically and shown in the order they appear. Not an exhaustive list — always confirm against the tender documents.

The gates

What this notice demands of you

2 named, none in explicit obligation language. Each one is quoted from the notice.

Audited accounts / financial standingFinancial standing & cover
Change in the approach to financial standing assessments with more focus placed on a detailed assessment to be undertaken at the call-off competition stage rather than when potential suppliers apply to be admitted to the DPS;
Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)Frameworks & routes to market
Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for Employment and Health Related Test and Learn Provision

Matched against the notice text, so this is a floor — the tender pack will demand things the notice never mentions. “Says must” means the quoted sentence itself used obligation language; anything ambiguous is left as a mention.

What it takes to bid this

4580 daysof bid-team effort
£30.8k£54.8kat typical UK bid-team rates
Compressed window — start the same week

Typical UK bid effort for the £10m+ band — an estimate, not a quote.

Qualify & bid/no-bid ~10% · SQ / PQQ ~20% · Written response ~55% · Review & presentation ~15%

Stated in this notice

  • Hold at bidFinancial standing / turnover test…orm second; - Change in the approach to financial standing assessments with more focus placed on a detailed assessment…

Typical for this category — confirm against the ITT pack

  • Show at bidComparable references / case studies
  • Hold at bidFinancial standing (accounts, often ~2× contract value turnover)
  • Hold at bidInsurance cover (PL / EL, often PI)
  • Show at bidSocial value commitments

Hold at bid = pass/fail conditions of participation. Show at bid = scored in the quality response. Plan for delivery = contract obligations from day one.

Buyer intelligence

Make the case to bid

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Free to start. Named contacts come from published notices; the strategy is generated from the buyer’s news, accounts and people.

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The full intelligence dossier

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Source & provenance
OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-043872
Stage
tender · Open
Source
Find a Tender
Buyer ref
004271-2024
View the original notice on Find a Tender

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data © Crown copyright.

Market context

Who wins this kind of work

The suppliers and buyers around this opportunity — drawn from official award data. Drag to orbit; click a node to explore.

Top suppliers & buyers in Education & Training

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