Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Scottish Government
5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw
Glasgow
G2 8LU
Telephone
+44 412425466
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKM - Scotland
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10482
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
one.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
National or federal Agency/Office
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
DLEARN-Provision of Standardised Assessment & Reporting Platform & Related Services
Reference number
788772
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 80000000 - Education and training services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The Scottish Government intends to contract for the ongoing provision of national, online standardised assessments aimed at providing evidence of children's progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £17,500,000
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 80000000 - Education and training services
- 72222300 - Information technology services
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKM - Scotland
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Scottish Government intends to contract for the ongoing provision of national, online standardised assessments aimed at providing evidence of children's progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy. The contract will be designed to implement the third phase of the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland (NSA) project, which were introduced as part of the implementation of the National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education. The supplier will be required to provide a dual-language platform for the continuation of the online adaptive assessment service which has been made available to children in publicly funded education in Scotland since August 2017.
The Scottish Government is also exploring whether this procurement provides the opportunity to bring elements of the assessment service in-house. This includes training design and delivery, content development, and service desk provision. A key aspect of development will include the migration of data from the current phase of the project, both in terms of assessment data, and assessment content, to ensure continuity of service and secure the long-term value of existing data and content.
Assessments are aligned to Curriculum for Excellence and are undertaken by children and young people in P1, 4, 7 and S3. Development will take place during the 2026/27 school year with the assessments anticipated to come online from August 2027. Standardised assessments support the wider approach to assessment through the broad general education in Scotland, which is based primarily upon the professional judgement of teachers. The contract will be for the design and delivery of diagnostic, inclusive and online adaptive national standardised assessments, suitable for the Scottish school education system and capable of reporting progress in skills for reading, writing and numeracy, both in English and Gaelic.
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
19 January 2026
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
The Scottish Government does not require any formal submission at this stage. This notice is to advise potential tenderers that the Scottish Government will host a Supplier Briefing Day on Monday 20 October 2025. The Briefing Day will be held via Microsoft Teams.
The purpose of the meeting will be to outline our requirement and procurement timetable to potential tenderers and exchange information about expectations and market capability. Learning from the meeting may help to shape our requirement prior to the start of the formal advertising and competitive tendering process.
The meeting will be held on a "without commitment" basis and will have no bearing on supplier evaluation or selection. Attendance (or non-attendance) will not affect your involvement in the later tendering process.
Anyone interested in attending this meeting should register their interest no later than Tuesday 14 October 2025.
A Questionnaire has been included with this PIN which contains a number of pertinent questions to help understand the market capacity for this requirement. Please note it is not a pre-requisite to attending the Briefing Day that this is completed however any feedback would be gratefully received. Any information received will not be used to form judgements regarding supplier performance, capacity or capability under any current or future procurement process. Suppliers will not be disadvantaged by declining to submit a response to the questionnaire.
NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=802966.
(SC Ref:802966)