ASEAN-UK SAGE Girls' Education Programme - £9m Tender Notice

Tender

ASEAN-UK SAGE (Supporting the Advancement of Girls’ Education) - EME

• Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office UK4: Tender notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-034426

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-05a4ad (view related notices)

Published 15 April 2026, 5:25pm

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Contents

Scope Participation Submission Award criteria Other information Procedure Documents Contracting authority

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Reference

PROJ 12986

Description

The ASEAN-UK Supporting the Advancement of Girls’ Education (ASEAN-UK SAGE) programme is a six-year Business Case funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the UK Mission to ASEAN. Delivered in two phases, the UK Mission to ASEAN is now seeking eligible organisation(s) to deliver a three-year Phase 2.

Phase 2 will run for three UK financial years, from April 2026 to March 2029, with a total budget of £9,000,000. It will be delivered by a lead organisation under an agreement with the UK Mission to ASEAN, supported by downstream partners as needed.

The focus of ASEAN-UK SAGE is to support inclusive and equitable quality education for children across Southeast Asia Region in close collaboration with ASEAN secretariat, especially for girls and the most marginalised, contributing to regional integration and narrowing of development disparities between ASEAN Member States (AMS) .

The emphasis in Phase 2 will be on the use of evidence to improve learning outcomes and inclusion, especially for priority countries in the region.

Total value (estimated)

• £9,000,000 excluding VAT
• £9,000,000 including VAT Above the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

• 1 August 2026 to 31 March 2029
• Possible extension to 31 March 2030
• 3 years, 8 months Description of possible extension:

Optional extension of upto 1 year, and £3m value, subject to budget availability and Business Case addendum

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

Foreign economic-aid-related services

Education and training services

Contract locations

• KH - Cambodia
• TL - East Timor
• LA - Laos
• PH - Philippines

Participation

Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation

1) Proof of existing in country legal registration or legal capacity to operate in the countries in scope of the requirement. If not already in place, bidders must outline a credible and practical commitment for meeting any legal requirements to operate in the target countries before mobilisation. This may include their current registration document, future plans for obtaining one, using/establishing subcontractors/partnerships, or securing government agreements).

2)

D&B Rating FCDO Acceptable Risk Assessment FCDO High Risk Assessment

D&B Failure Score (best = 100, worst = 1) 50 or above 49 or below

D&B Delinquency Score (best = 100, worst = 1) 50 or above 49 or below

D&B Overall Business Risk “Moderate-High” or better “High”

D&B Risk Indicator “3 – Higher than Average Risk” or better “4 – High Risk”

D&B Risk Indicator of “Undetermined” is typically used in respect of very recently established new suppliers, or non-UK suppliers where only limited information is available. Such scores will be reviewed on a case by case basis in light of all available information.

(iv) Suppliers whose economic and financial standing is considered to be ‘High Risk’ according to the table above will be subject to further review. Such suppliers may be able to demonstrate adequate financial standing through other means, for example a Parent Company or Bank Guarantee.

Where a group of economic operators is bidding, the Potential Supplier must ensure that the Response includes the financial information requested for each of the organisations who intend to share joint and several liability if awarded the Contract either directly or through a joint venture. This will need to be uploaded to the portal as a separate attachment for each organisation and clearly named with reference to the relevant ITT number and the organisation name.

Where the Potential Supplier is relying upon any other organisation to meet the criteria set out in the Conditions of Participation; the FCDO reserves the right to request the financial information of such organisations that the Potential Supplier is reliant upon to meet the Conditions of Participation before finalising the evaluation.

Potential Suppliers (and any other organisation required to complete this section) must indicate in this section whether there is a parent company that is prepared to provide a guarantee in a form acceptable to the FCDO. Where there is no parent company the FCDO may request a guarantee from another entity (e.g. a bank) in a form acceptable to the FCDO.

Technical ability conditions of participation

The Technical Evaluation Team will carry out an evaluation of the answers to the Project Specific Questions (section d) – Additional Questions), supplemented by the 3 x contract examples, for scoring to determine whether the Potential Supplier possesses sufficient technical ability to give the FCDO confidence that the Potential Supplier can deliver the requirements of the Terms of Reference. Questions will focus on:

1. Foundational Learning Technical Assistance Track Record

2. Multi-Country TA Programme Management

3. Capability for ASEAN Delivery

4. Operational Feasibility & Mobilisation

5. Safeguarding, Duty of Care, Fiduciary & Data Protection Systems

For full details of questions, weightings, and scoring methodology please see Volume 1 - Invitation to Participate

Submission

Enquiry deadline

4 May 2026, 5:00pm

Submission type

Requests to participate

Deadline for requests to participate

11 May 2026, 5:00pm

Submission address and any special instructions

https://fcdo.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html

Tenders may be submitted electronically

Yes

Languages that may be used for submission

English

Suppliers to be invited to tender

Maximum 5 suppliers

Selection criteria:

Conditions of Participation: Mandatory questions plus Project Specific Technical Questions. Top 5 (and ties) suppliers will be invited to submit tenders

Award decision date (estimated)

13 July 2026

Award criteria

Name	Description	Type
Strategic Leadership & Regional Collaboration	Please demonstrate your proposed strategy for leading a multi-country foundational learning technical assistance programme. Your proposal should cover your:

Approach that will ensure coherence across...

Show full description | Quality |
| Technical Expertise & Delivery Methodology for Foundational Learning | Please demonstrate your proposed Technical approach to foundational learning, specifically structured pedagogy/early grade learning and targeted instruction/Teaching at the Right Level. Your proposal...

Show full description | Quality |
| Programme Management, MEL, Risk, Safeguarding & Value for Money | Please demonstrate your proposed Programme governance, planning, delivery oversight, and reporting systems. Your proposal should cover your:

Approach to downstream partner management and delivery...

Show full description | Quality |
| Vision for ASEAN & Contextualisation Capability | Please demonstrate your proposed Vision for improving foundational learning in ASEAN that is led by government reform priorities and needs within the parameters of the TOR. Your proposal should cover...

Show full description | Quality |
| Team, Deployment & Mobilisation | Please describe your proposed team structure, roles, expertise relevant to the requirements of the ToR, Deployment and mobilisation plans, including:

Team structure (Organogram, with commentary where...

Show full description | Quality |
| Financial Management, Reporting & Value for Money (Technical Approach) | Please demonstrate your proposed financial management approach, including forecasting and financial control systems. Your proposal should cover your:

Alignment of financial/reporting systems with the...

Show full description | Quality |
| Total of all Staffing Costs, plus Profit and NPAC | Total of all Staffing Costs, plus Profit and NPAC | Cost |
| Total of all other expenses and Frontline Delivery Costs | Total of all other expenses and Frontline Delivery Costs | Cost |

Weighting description

Technical Criteria are weighted by %, please see draft Invitation to Tender for full details. Commercial criteria are based on Pound Sterling amounts. Weighted value for Money scoring method will be used.

Other information

Payment terms

Monthly Invoicing and Payment, with 25% of payment subject to KPI performance

Applicable trade agreements

• Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

Conflicts assessment prepared/revised

Yes

Procedure

Procedure type

Competitive flexible procedure

Competitive flexible procedure description

The procurement process will be run as follows –

Stage 1 =

Participation phase - where suppliers will be assessed to determine that they have suitable legal and financial standing and demonstrate the required capabilities to be selected to submit a tender for the requirement.

Intermediate Assessment - an intermediate assessment approach to reduce the number of potential suppliers invited to take part in the next stages of the procurement process.

Stage 2 =

Invitation to Tender – Submission of tenders by the top 5 (and ties) suppliers from the Participation phase, to ensure that they satisfy FCDOs requirements, are affordable and manage risks appropriately.

Post tender clarification - post-tender clarification for the purposes of verifying the content of final tenders (if required).

Stage 3 (optional) =

Best and final offers (BAFO) - a BAFO stage providing potential suppliers a further opportunity to propose improvements to the final tender submission. This stage is optional and its use will be at the sole discretion of the Authority. Bidders may be given the opportunity to improve their Technical proposal, Commercial proposal, or both.

Stage 4 (optional) =

Post tender negotiation - post-tender negotiation to improve the content of tenders. This stage is optional and its use will be at the sole discretion of the Authority. Negotiations may focus on the bidder’s Technical proposal, Commercial proposal, or both.

Preferred supplier - this stage will be used to develop and finalise the final contract with the most advantageous tenderer.

Should the BAFO stage, Post tender negotiation or Preferred Supplier stages result in the preferred supplier no longer being the Most Advantageous, the Authority reserves the right to approach the 2nd placed bidder. This could be for reasons such as, but not limited to, in the sole opinion of the Authority: The bid being deemed abnormally low; The technical proposal no longer being deemed sufficient or of the same quality as initial bid stage; The contract terms not being agreed; Key personnel no longer being available.

Reduced tendering period

Yes

Qualifying planned procurement notice - minimum 10 days

Documents

Documents to be provided after the tender notice

Final versions of ITT documents for award phase will be published via the Jaggaer platform

Contracting authority

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

• Public Procurement Organisation Number: PXRR-8771-PHVX King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

United Kingdom

Email: commercial.smi@fcdo.gov.uk

Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office

Region: UKI32 - Westminster

Organisation type: Public authority - central government