Scope
Description
The objective of the School Teacher Recruitment Marketing Campaign is to support recruitment of c. 35,000 people into Initial Teacher Training every year, alongside the government priority to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament. (This campaign will only target school teachers).
Our aim is to inspire and attract candidates and grow the appeal of teaching amongst students and graduates under the age of 30, who are the group most likely to train to become a teacher.
We are looking for a lead creative and strategic agency that will set a new direction for the school recruitment marketing campaign to tackle a challenging, ever-changing graduate recruitment market and ensure the campaign delivers communications excellence and innovation, as demanded by Government Communications Service professional standards.
The deliverables of this campaign are:
• Campaign strategy and platform.
• Brand strategy and guardianship to support wider marketing activities.
• Creative development and production for paid advertising and to support the application of the creative strategy and platform across other marketing touchpoints, including the Get Into Teaching website.
• Strategy, development and content production for direct marketing journeys (segmented email programmes).
This tender notice is for the award of a public contract through a competitive flexible procedure in accordance with section 20(1) and (2)(b) of the Procurement Act 2023.
Total value (estimated)
- £7,200,000 excluding VAT
- £9,000,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2029
- 4 years
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
Options to purchase additional services as required.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 79340000 - Advertising and marketing services
Participation
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
Details can be found in the PSQ
Technical ability conditions of participation
Details can be found in the PSQ
Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
- Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
31 March 2025, 5:00pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
18 April 2025, 5:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
https://education.app.jaggaer.com. Search for: Project_9736 or ssq_569
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
28 July 2025
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | This award criteria is for ITT stage. The percentage weighting may be refined at the launch ITT stage. |
Quality | 65% |
| Price | This award criteria is for ITT stage. The percentage weighting may be refined at the launch ITT stage. |
Price | 25% |
| Social value | This award criteria is for ITT stage |
Quality | 10% |
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Competitive flexible procedure description
1. Participation Stage
This stage will include three scored technical questions.
A brief and more information on the evaluation criteria and scoring methodology can be found in the PSQ documents.
A clarification process will be used during the tendering period to allow bidders to seek clarification from the Authority. The deadline for clarification questions will be 31st March 2025.
The deadline for submitting responses for the Participation stage is 18th April 2025. The estimated date of providing results for this stage to bidders is 30th April 2025.
A maximum number of eight highest scoring bidders will proceed to stage 2.
2. ITT (Invitation to tender)
This stage will include:
A) Technical envelope
B) Commercial envelope incl. FVRAT (financial viability risk assessment tool)
The estimated launch of this stage will be 1st May 2025. This is when all ITT documentation will be provided. The key documents provided at this stage will include ITT bidding guidance, detailed brief, ITT evaluation criteria, scoring methodology, commercial envelope, technical questions, draft contract and KPIs.
A dialogue (chemistry meeting) will be part of this stage.
A clarification process will be used during the tendering period to allow bidders to seek clarification from the Authority. The estimated deadline for clarification questions will be 16th May 2025.
The estimated deadline for submitting responses for this stage is 30th May 2025. The estimated date of providing results for this stage to bidders is 10th June 2025.
A maximum number of four highest scoring bidders will proceed to stage 3.
3. Presentations
During this stage bidders will be required to demonstrate their strategic and creative expertise related to the campaign brief.
A dialogue (tissue meeting) will be part of this stage.
The estimated launch of this stage will be 11th June 2025. This is when the brief and the scoring methodology and evaluation criteria for the presentation will be provided.
The estimated dates of the presentations are 14th and 15th July 2025. The estimated date of publishing the result of this stage is 28th July 2025.
Please note all dates are subject to change.
The Authority reserves the right to amend the procurement, where such amendment would not be substantial, as follows, including and not limited to;
• amendments to the tender documents which may provide clarification
• refining the specification as the competitive flexible procedure progresses
The tender can be accessed at https://education.app.jaggaer.com. Search for: "Project_9736 or ssq_569' .
All communication with the Authority during all stages must be submitted via the Jaggaer messaging portal.
A PIN for the market engagement event can be found here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/f8ea5daf-d9ad-4965-9b7c-eb7a0794ceeb
Documents
Documents to be provided after the tender notice
ITT documents will be provided at the launch of stage 2 (ITT).
Presentation brief will be provided at the launch of stage 3 (presentations).
All documents will be provided via Jaggaer.
Contracting authority
Department for Education
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDZG-3487-DPVD
Sanctuary Buildings, 20 Great Smith Street
London
SW1P3BT
United Kingdom
Region: UKI32 - Westminster
Organisation type: Public authority - central government