Planning

Pre-market engagement – Legal Adviser Services for Teacher Misconduct Cases (Teaching Regulation Agency)

• Department for Education UK2: Preliminary market engagement notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-022938

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-06676a

Published 11 March 2026, 3:07pm

Last edited 13 March 2026, 12:18pm

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• 13 March 2026, 12:18pm (this version)
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Contents

Scope Engagement Participation Contracting authority

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Scope

Description

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) intends to procure external legal adviser services to support the lawful, fair and efficient operation of Professional Conduct Panel (PCP) hearings. These services will build on the model used under the current Legal Adviser (LA) contracts and will ensure panels receive independent, high quality legal advice throughout the misconduct hearing process.

Legal advisers provide essential and impartial advice to PCPs on matters of law, mixed questions of law and fact, procedure, precedent, and any other issues relevant to the case before the panel. They also draft the panel’s written findings of fact, announced decision, and final decision document, ensuring these are clear, legally sound and fully compliant with the Teachers’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012 and TRA’s published guidance.

The TRA will conduct early market engagement to present our high level approach to the future service model and ensure suppliers have clarity ahead of the formal procurement. These sessions will provide an opportunity to explore practical aspects of delivering legally compliant hearings, understand market capacity and discuss how suppliers can support resilience and consistency across panels.

After the event, suppliers will be invited to complete a questionnaire to provide feedback that will support the TRA’s development of its service model.

The resulting procurement will therefore establish a resilient, high quality legal adviser service capable of supporting the current statutory framework and the future expansion of the Teacher Misconduct regime. The TRA will work closely with contracted suppliers to maintain high standards of legal accuracy, consistency in decision making and operational stability across all panel hearings.

Please be aware that registration is for the Market Engagement Event only. This event does not signify the commencement of any procurement process and does not constitute any commitment by the Department for Education. This is NOT an invitation to tender for a contract opportunity and any suppliers invited to the event will not have a privileged position in relation to any future contract opportunity. Any subsequent procurement(s) that DfE conducts will be based on the fair and objective outcome of a procurement process.

The DfE is keen to maximise opportunities to participate in procurement for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs). Consideration will also be given to consortia and collaborative bids from all forms of organisations.

Total value (estimated)

• £5,000,000 excluding VAT
• £6,000,000 including VAT Above the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

• 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029
• Possible extension to 31 March 2031
• 4 years

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

Legal services

Contract locations

• UKC - North East (England)
• UKD - North West (England)
• UKF - East Midlands (England)
• UKG - West Midlands (England)
• UKH - East of England
• UKJ - South East (England)
• UKK - South West (England)
• UKI - London
• UKE - Yorkshire and the Humber

Engagement

Engagement deadline

16 April 2026

Engagement process description

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is hosting a virtual market engagement event on Thursday 16 April 2026 from 3:15pm to 4:15pm.

The session will be held on Microsoft Teams.

Organisations interested in attending must register for an account on Jaggaer before expressing an interest in this opportunity. Access to the system is available via the Department’s e tendering portal – Jaggaer -

https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

Once registered, please navigate to the “Current Opportunities” section and search for:

• Project_10263

Once you have located the opportunity, please confirm your interest within Jaggaer.

The next step is to reserve a place at the event using the Jaggaer message facility. When doing so, please include:

• Confirmation that you wish to join the event

• Your organisation’s name

• The name(s) of attendee(s) - maximum of two attendees

• Email address(es) of attendee(s)

• Each attendee’s role within your organisation

A Teams calendar invitation with joining instructions will then be issued via Jaggaer.

Please ensure the invitation is shared with all nominated attendees.

All communications regarding this event must be submitted via Jaggaer. For any Jaggaer system support request, please contact Jaggaer Helpdesk.

Participation

Particular suitability

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
• Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE)

Contracting authority

Department for Education

• Public Procurement Organisation Number: PDZG-3487-DPVD Sanctuary Buildings, 20 Great Smith Street

London

SW1P3BT

United Kingdom

Email: Legal-Services.CONTRACT-REVIEW@education.gov.uk

Region: UKI32 - Westminster

Organisation type: Public authority - central government