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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

VPN Provision

Ofsted · Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 5 Oct 2026, 00:17.

Opportunity overview

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is issuing this notice to notify the market to that we are engaging with suppliers on the Technology Services 4 (RM6190) to help shape a pending tender process for the provision of a fully managed VPN service. The current contract that Ofsted has for providing this service is due to end in October 2026 and Ofsted are looking to start the process of procuring a new contract now. Ofsted intends to appoint a supplier to deliver a fully managed VPN service that provides secure, encrypted network connectivity across the organisation. The appointed supplier will be responsible for the end‑to‑end design, implementation, operation, monitoring, and support of the VPN service. This approach will remove the requirement for in‑house management and ensure that the service is proactively maintained and supported by a specialist provider. Ofsted is therefore looking at running a procurement exercise, starting as soon as is practicable in 2026, for a supplier to provide this service. Our chosen route to market will be via CCS Framework Technology Services 4 (RM6190) -Lot 4a Infrastructure Management (lower value and complexity) and engagement is currently limited to suppliers on this Framework.

Classification

  • CPV72000000 — IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

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
CON 1616
Main Procurement Category
services
Above Threshold
Yes
Status
planning

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Amendments

Entry 1
Description
Update - This procurement will now be run via Lot 4a Infrastructure Management (lower value and complexity) due to the overall contract value falling under the £3 Million threshold required for Lot 4
Id
010279-2026

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Has Renewal
Yes
Status
planning

Suitability

Sme
Yes

Contract period

Starts
1 Jun 2026, 00:00
Ends
31 May 2029, 23:59
Max Extent Date
31 May 2030, 23:59

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
72000000
Description
IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKC
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 2
Region
UKD
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 3
Region
UKE
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 4
Region
UKF
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 5
Region
UKG
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 6
Region
UKH
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 7
Region
UKI
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 8
Region
UKJ
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 9
Region
UKK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Planning and budget

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
engagement
Type
engagement
Description
Ofsted issued an Expression of Interest to RM6190 Framework suppliers on 20th January 2026, with a deadline of 27th January 2026. Ofsted will now undertake some pre-market engagement sessions with suppliers who responded to the EOI. Ofsted do not guarantee that this exercise will result in a procurement exercise.
Date Met
27 Jan 2026, 00:00
Status
met

Documents

Entry 1
Id
010279-2026
Document Type
marketEngagementNotice
Notice Type
UK2
Description
Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Published
5 Feb 2026, 09:54
Format
text/html

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
Ofsted
Id
GB-PPON-PLXD-3382-NDQL

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PLXD-3382-NDQL

Address

Street Address
Piccadilly Gate, Store Street
Locality
Manchester
Postal Code
M1 2WD
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKD33

Contact

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Manchester · UKD33 · M1 2WD · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKC · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKD · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKE · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKF · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKG · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKH · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKI · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKJ · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKK · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

2 published notice versions reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

2 VERSIONS
  1. 008083-2026Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ·
  2. 010279-2026Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ·