Test Operations Service 2025

Contract summary

Industry

• Education and training services - 80000000

Location of contract

North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West

Value of contract

£0 to £180,000,000

Procurement reference

tender_288593/1117472

Published date

27 October 2022

Closing date

28 November 2022

Closing time

10am

Contract start date

11 March 2024

Contract end date

31 January 2031

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Competitive dialogue (above threshold)

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

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Description

Short Description:

- The purpose of this notice is to notify the market of STA's commencement of procurement activity, to identify and appoint a suitably qualified Supplier to deliver the STA's Test Operations Service 2025 requirement.
- The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is an executive agency of the Department for Education which is required to deliver statutory National Curriculum Assessments (NCAs), including Reception Baseline, Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2) assessments. The Test Operations Service 2025 project has been launched to seek a Supplier to deliver NCA test operations on behalf of STA, in England only, from the 2025-26 test cycle onwards when the current contract expires.
- The procurement will be managed on the Department for Education's Jaggaer e-sourcing platform, and full details of the procurement, including all tender documents and the service specification, are available therein. Please go to https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html, click on the "View Opportunities button and "Test Operations Service 2025" to access the opportunity. Please note that registration is required for access.
- Interested organisations should review the available documentation, and carefully read the Invitation to Participate document which sets out the stages of the procurement, timelines, and information that must be submitted.
- Background: The primary purpose of STA is to provide an effective and robust testing, assessment and moderation system to measure and monitor pupils' progress and attainment between reception and the end of KS2. STA is responsible for the development and delivery of national curriculum tests and assessments in England, under statutory instruments, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education. We are regulated by Ofqual for our work on National Curriculum Assessments (NCAs). In a typical school year NCA outcomes are published annually at an individual school level in the School Performance Tables and are an important factor in the parental choice of schools.

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More information

Previous notice about this procurement

Test Operations Service - Market Engagement Event

• Early engagement
• Published 13 June 2022

Links

• https://education.app.jaggaer.com
• DFEs e-tendering portal

Additional text

The Authority administers all procurements electronically via the Department for Education e-procurement Solution portal (Jaggaer).

No hard copy documents will be issued and all communications with the Authority (including final submission of Tender responses) must be conducted via Jaggaer.

Description of the procurement:

- The final test cycle in STA's existing contract to deliver NCA test operations will be in 2024-25, therefore a new contract must be in place to begin delivering from the 2025-26 test cycle onwards. It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded in early 2024, to allow sufficient time for set-up.
- Service Requirements: The current assessments in-scope for the Test Operations Service are the Phonics Screening Check (PSC), end of KS1 NCAs and teacher assessment, end of KS2 NCAs and teacher assessment in English Writing and Science. Other assessments which are not in scope of this service are Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) and Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). The tests are sat by the full cohort of pupils, currently up to 650,000 in 16,500 schools.
- For successful delivery of the service, we expect that the Supplier will undertake the following activities (not exhaustive):
1. General
o Overarching management of test operations
o Systems Integration
o Security of test materials
o Provision of data
o Project and Risk management
o Collection of KS2 pupil test information
o Collection of KS2 Teacher Assessment data
o Development and dissemination of guidance, communications and support to schools, markers and other stakeholders throughout the test cycle
2. Print
o Manufacture test materials to schools
o Manufacture KS2 marker materials to KS2 markers, where applicable
3. Logistics and Scanning
o Collate and distribute test materials to up to 16,500 schools
o Distribute KS2 marker materials to KS2 markers
o KS2 post-test logistics (collect test scripts from schools, scan and distribute to markers: test scripts/scanned images returned to schools)
o KS2 scanning of pupil scripts and matching services
4. Marking
o KS2 marker recruitment and management
o KS2 marker training (develop materials and deliver training)
o KS2 on screen marking provision
o KS2 script marking management and mark capture
o Support KS2 test standard setting
o Support maladministration processes
5. Helpdesk
o Helpdesk for markers, schools and other stakeholders
o Activity peaks between April to July each Test Cycle.
o The full scope of services to be delivered will be detailed in the Statement of Requirements which will form part of the tender documents.

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About the buyer

Address

20 Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
England

Email

FAS.PROCUREMENT@education.gov.uk