Management Information Systems for Schools in England

This PME does not signify the commencement of any procurement process and does not constitute any commitment by the Department for Education (DfE). If DfE decides to commence any procurement process subject to the Procurement Act 2023 as contemplated by this notice, a separate notice(s) will be published at the relevant time.

DfE would like to encourage all relevant organisations, including Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs), to participate and have made the engagement process as open as possible in order to facilitate this (please see further details in the “Engagement process description” section below). Consideration will be given to consortia and collaborative bids from all forms of organisations subject to confirmation of a competitive tender process.

The Purpose: Preliminary Market Engagement is being undertaken to refine DfE's requirements as it looks to establish a route to market for schools under the Procurement Act 2023 for management information systems (MIS) that enables them to analyse, use and report on key data with a focus on interoperability. It is currently anticipated that this will be in the form of an open framework as defined in the Procurement Act 2023.

As part of the preliminary market engagement, DfE is keen to work with MIS suppliers in England to explore how we can harness the potential of data to provide new and valuable insights to share with schools, academy trusts, and local authorities in England to improve outcomes for children and young people, parents and carers. This particular initiative has been branded the Data spine and was referenced in the Schools White Paper published in February 2026.

It is anticipated that outcomes of this initiative will be included within the remit of aforementioned route to market. Further information on the link between the MIS route to market project and the Data spine will be shared as part of the engagement process, starting with the market engagement webinar (please see further details in the “Engagement process description” section below).

We will conduct further market engagement during spring 2026 with a view to using the market engagement and stakeholders views to further inform the specifics of the proposed MIS route to market. By fully engaging in this process, including the Data spine initiative, organisations have the opportunity to feed into the design of the proposed MIS route to market and ensure it is cognizant of market capabilities.