CPT_25_02 Financial Audit and Assurance Services Contract

The National Audit Office (NAO) is the UK's independent public spending watchdog. The NAO supports Parliament in holding government to account and helps improve public services through its high-quality audits.

The NAO reprocured the Financial Audit and Assurance Services to support the high-quality delivery our portfolio of financial audits within the public sector. Financial Audit and Assurance Services Contract NAO sought to continue working in partnership with supplier firms to deliver high quality audits, which support effective accountability and lead to better financial reporting and financial management by public bodies.

NAO plan to contract out a series of audit engagements through a lot based structure. The Financial Audit and Assurance Services Contract will also include provision for the opportunity to procure additional financial audit related services throughout the lifetime of the contract.

For audit engagements under the contract, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) will retain overall responsibility for signing the audit opinion and the NAO will work with supplier firms to ensure audit and assurance services are carried out in line with the relevant standards and quality expectations. Audits will need to be carried out to internationally recognised auditing standards but also adapted to the public sector reporting framework, which includes the Government Financial Reporting Manual, and checking that transactions have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and conform to the authorities which govern them ('regularity').

The National Audit Office (NAO) will be awarding Financial Audit and Assurance Services contracts across a number of lots. Under the Financial Audit and Assurance Services contract Partner Firms will deliver audit services for a defined portfolio of audited entities.

The contracts will be awarded to experienced Partner Firms who have a proven record of delivering ISA (International Standards on Auditing) compliant audits. The new Financial Audit and Assurance Services contract will cover the provision of audit services from the 2026-27 audit cycle (year ended 31 March 2027 (unless specified otherwise)).

The Financial Audit and Assurance Services Contract will initially cover 3 audit cycles from 2026-27 to 2028-29 with the option to extend for a further 2 audit cycles up to 2030-31. All audits within the lots have a 31 March year end, unless specified otherwise.

NAO sought Partner Firms to provide audit services under the following 14 lots: • Lot 1 Crown Estate • Lot 2 Northern Ireland • Lot 3 Complex Provisions • Lot 4 National Savings & Investments • Lot 5 Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) Entities • Lot 6 Health • Lot 7 Pensions • Lot 8 Charities 1 • Lot 9 Charities 2 • Lot 10 Charities 3 • Lot 11 Infrastructure • Lot 12 Debt Management • Lot 13 Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Entities • Lot 14 United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) Interested suppliers were able to submit a bid for the lots of their choice (maximum of 8 lots). This means if a single supplier bids for the maximum 8 lots and is the preferred supplier based on the award and price evaluation on all 8 lots; they would be awarded all 8 lots that they have bid for.

However suppliers were not be permitted to submit bids for more than 8 lots. The new contract will run for an initial period of 3 years from Tuesday 1st September 2026 until Friday 31st August 2029 with the option to further extend for a period of up to 2 years (by 2 periods of 12 months) until Sunday 31st August 2031 with the estimated overall value of the contract being up to £68.293m inclusive of VAT (£13.659m per annum).

No guarantee is given as to the actual value of the contract. This figure includes an element of contingency and assumptions over additional services that may be procured in addition to contracted-out audit engagements as set out in Appendix A - Statement of Requirement.