How to win: Implementing and Testing a Single Unique Identifier for Children within school MIS – Alpha

About this contract

The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking to engage with the market in advance of a planned procurement for the Alpha phase of the Single Unique Identifier (SUI) programme. The SUI programme aims to improve the identification of children across safeguarding services by enabling the use of NHS Numbers as a Single Unique Identifier. The Alpha phase will test the integration of school Management Information System (MIS) platforms with the DfE-hosted Get an Identifier service, enabling authorised access to NHS numbers and GP details from NHS England's Personal Demographics Service. DfE intends to appoint up to two MIS suppliers to participate in the Alpha phase. Successful suppliers will be expected to: • integrate their MIS platform with the DfE-hosted Get an Identifier service; • support onboarding, testing and implementation activities with participating schools; • complete relevant NHS England onboarding and assurance activities; • support live operation during the Alpha phase; • provide evidence on implementation effort, costs, timescales, technical barriers and operational impacts; and contribute to evaluation activities to inform future decisions regarding national rollout.

How to win contracts like this

• ✓Answer against the marking scheme, not the question text — Department for Education scores each response, so map your evidence to the published criteria and weightings.
• ✓At £300,000, expect quality and social value to carry a large share of the score — price alone rarely wins services work.
• ✓Show recent, comparable delivery: name similar services contracts you've delivered for public bodies, with measurable outcomes.
• ✓Start early: deadlines are tight and a strong bid takes iteration.

BidWriter drafts your responses from your company profile, scores them against the marking scheme, and tracks your whole pipeline. Free to start — no card needed.

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