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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Older Buildings Research (OBR) Professional Engineering Expert Advice Role

Department for Education · Contract details notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 3 Oct 2026, 18:32.

Opportunity overview

The Department for Education (DfE) requires further specialist technical services from an existing supplier to support the final phase of the Older Building Research (OBR) project. The OBR project has already been procured and a consortium bid was successful; of which the supplier was a party, fulfilling the Engineering Expert role as a subcontractor to the prime supplier. This supplier is Useful Simple Group Limited. Through the OBR project, the DfE is investigating, cataloguing and extrapolating the condition of the post-war education estate, including through onsite intrusive investigations. This research project will enable the DfE to improve its understanding of the post-war education estate. This work is underpinned by a bespoke risk model, designed using research and investigations conducted to date and based on the technical assumptions and interpretative approach applied by the Engineering Expert Advice role. The project requires a further final phase not originally included in the contract with the prime supplier successful in the original procurement. This final phase involves interpreting and enhancing fieldwork inputs for model development, support on Large Language Model (LLM) workflows to support LLM development, providing engineering-led interpretation of fieldwork findings to enhance model relevance and insight, and applying the already established fieldwork approach across up to six additional schools, developing proposals for alternative methodologies to enhance data quality and fieldwork insights. To ensure continuity and compatibility with the research and model developed to date, the services under this additional appointment must be delivered by the supplier who fulfilled the Engineering Expert Advice role in the original procurement and using the same technical assumptions and interpretative approach previously developed by them and applied. This consistency is essential; the model and supporting analysis have been built incrementally as a single coherent system. Introducing outputs based on different assumptions and knowledge base would require significant re-engineering and re-validation of existing work, creating disproportionate technical complexity and undermining the integrity of the model. The appointed supplier will provide engineering-led interpretation of the above scope to integrate new data into the current risk model without compromising its structure or functionality. These services will enable the DfE to maintain a consistent technical approach, ensuring that new findings complement and strengthen the existing evidence.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

Useful Simple Group Limited

Matched by number
Contract value
£116.3k
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
3 Mar 2026
Including VAT
£139.6k
Award ID
1
Status
active
Identifier
GB-COH 03831898
Location
London, UKI31, EC4Y 0HP, United Kingdom

Classification

No classification was supplied.

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
Project_10272
Status
complete
Procurement Method
direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Why this procedure was chosen
Additional or repeat goods, services or works - extension or partial replacement Justification under Paragraph 7, schedule 5: (a) The justification applies where the contracting authority is procuring services from i) an existing supplier ii) which are an extension to existing services and iii) in circumstances where a change in supplier would result in the receipt of services different from or incompatible with the previous services and iv) this difference would result in disproportionate technical difficulties. All four tests are met here: (b) As regards i), the supplier was part of the winning consortium in the original procurement as a subcontractor to the prime and therefore is the existing supplier of these services. The Contracting Authority now needs to contract directly with this supplier. (c) As regards ii) these research services are an extension to existing research services as it is the final phase where 6 additional schools will be added; (d) As regards iii), The next phase of the OBR project requires the same fieldwork approach to be applied across 6 additional schools and for alternative methodologies to be developed and tested. In order for new findings to be compatible with earlier work, this must be done using the same assumptions and interpretative approach that had been applied previously, in the existing research and risk model. (e) As regards iv), Iif a different supplier were appointed, the interpretation of earlier and new fieldwork would inevitably be carried out using different professional judgements and assumptions. This would change how findings are assessed and how they are used to inform the model. As a result, the outputs produced would not be compatible with the existing model and the data used to inform it. It would risk wasting the work already done. Consequently, a change in supplier would result in the Department receiving services and outputs that are different and incompatible with those already developed. This incompatibility arises from how the model and supporting work are conducted and built up incrementally over the course of the project, and not due to cost, time, or other considerations. Further and finally, it should be noted that the value is currently anticipated to be below threshold by £88 and therefore this Transparency Notice is voluntary at the current time as the contracting authority also has the ability to award a below-threshold contract to the supplier. However if for whatever reason the value exceeds the threshold, ad the contract becomes a Convertible Contract, then the contracting authority will seek to rely on the direct award exemption at Schedule 5 paragraph 7.

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Id
additionalRepeatExtensionPartialReplacement

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
complete

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Document Type
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
Department for Education
Id
GB-PPON-PDZG-3487-DPVD

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PDZG-3487-DPVD

Address

Street Address
Sanctuary Buildings, 20 Great Smith Street
Locality
London
Postal Code
SW1P3BT
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKI32

Contact

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government
Organisation 2
Name
Useful Simple Group Limited
Id
GB-COH-03831898

Identifier

Scheme
GB-COH
Id
03831898

Address

Street Address
Temple Chambers, 3-7 Temple Avenue
Locality
London
Postal Code
EC4Y 0HP
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKI31

Contact

Roles

supplier

Details

Scale
sme
Vcse
Yes
Public Service Mission Organization
No
Sheltered Workshop
No

Award information

Award 1
Id
1
Status
active
Main Procurement Category
services

Items

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
71000000
Description
Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-COH-03831898
Name
Useful Simple Group Limited

Related lots

1

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
1
Award ID
1
Title
Older Buildings Research (OBR) Professional Engineering Expert Advice Role
Status
active
Has Options
Yes
Above Threshold
Yes
Date Signed
3 Mar 2026, 00:00

Period

Starts
3 Mar 2026, 00:00
Ends
31 Mar 2026, 23:59

Options

Description
Annex A - Fee and Other Payments. Clause 5. The daily all-in rate for any necessary extension of the Services work (and for the purposes of any apportionment under clause 11 .6.2.1) is REDACTED.

Value

Including VAT
139,600
Amount
116,333
Currency
GBP

Documents

Entry 1
Id
A-13453
Document Type
contractSigned
Description
Redacted copy of the contract
Format
application/pdf
Entry 2
Id
A-13454
Document Type
contractSigned
Description
conflictOfInterest
Format
application/octet-stream
Entry 3
Id
A-13455
Document Type
contractSigned
Description
conflictOfInterest
Format
application/octet-stream
Entry 4
Id
024239-2026
Document Type
contractNotice
Notice Type
UK7
Description
Contract details notice on Find a Tender
Published
17 Mar 2026, 16:09
Format
text/html

Agreed Metrics

Entry 1
Id
1
Title
No.1 KPI
Description
Deliver at least two rounds of sensitivity analysis and provide written feedback on three targeted model elements during Beta testing.

Observations

Entry 1
Id
frequency

Period

Duration In Months
1
Entry 2
Id
2
Title
No.1 KPI
Description
Complete analysis and Beta testing support ahead of final model deployment.

Observations

Entry 1
Id
frequency

Period

Duration In Months
1
Entry 3
Id
3
Title
No.3 KPI
Description
Respond to 100% of DfE LLM workflow requests within 5 working days, with a satisfaction rating of 80% or higher.

Observations

Entry 1
Id
frequency

Period

Duration In Months
1
Entry 4
Id
4
Title
No.4 KPI
Description
Complete scoping and selection for all February fieldwork schools by and deliver all summer and October fieldwork interpretation by February 2026. Deliver February fieldwork interpretation, where possible to do so, by the end of the contract. Tailor the fieldwork scope to suit budget constraints as advised by DfE, prioritising tests that fill data gaps. Enhances dataset completeness and reduce abortive costs through targeted testing and engineering-led insight.

Observations

Entry 1
Id
frequency

Period

Duration In Months
1
Entry 5
Id
5
Title
No.5 KPI
Description
Social value commitment: The Consultant commitments to delivering 4 people-hours of learning interventions under the scope of this contract, to support Learning and skills development opportunities relevant to the contract to address skills gaps, with the aim of kills for growth, supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gap trhe KPI shall be measured using the following formula: Actual performance (hours delivered) divided by 4 hours (social value commitment), equals (outcome) Work example: 4 hours delivered divided by 4 hours committed = 100% performance

Observations

Entry 1
Id
frequency

Period

Duration In Months
1

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · London · UKI32 · SW1P3BT · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

2 published notice versions reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

2 VERSIONS
  1. 002812-2026Contract award notice on Find a Tender ·
  2. 024239-2026Contract details notice on Find a Tender ·