The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and accredited Microsoft Solutions Partner with Microsoft Business Applications accreditation to provide specialist support, maintenance, development, enhancement and consultancy services for the Department's core finance platform, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The service encompasses the provision of comprehensive support and management of the Department's Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central environment and associated Microsoft technology estate. This includes, but is not limited to, 2nd and 3rd line support services, incident, problem and change management, platform maintenance, code development and deployment, system enhancements, release management, technical consultancy and continuous service improvement activities. The successful supplier will be responsible for supporting and developing the wider Business Central ecosystem, including Microsoft SQL Server databases, integrations, Microsoft Power Platform solutions. They shall maintain the skills, knowledge, and capability to support, develop, enhance, and maintain Microsoft Power Platform solutions, Azure Logic Apps, Microsoft Copilot capabilities, custom applications, workflows, and associated Microsoft technologies, in support of business requirements specified by the Buyer. Responsibility for the design and ownership of end-to-end business processes shall remain with the Buyer. The supplier will also provide technical architecture support, code development as commissioned by Buyer, disaster recovery planning and testing, business continuity support, performance optimisation, security and assurance activities, documentation and knowledge transfer. The supplier will assume responsibility for supporting and maintaining existing custom code, extensions, integrations and third-party solutions utilised within the environment. This includes management and coordination of associated software licences, maintenance agreements and support arrangements relating to relevant third-party products and services. The Supplier shall provide ongoing support, maintenance, break-fix, security, and service continuity activities for supported applications and integrations. The Supplier shall act as a conduit between the Buyer and relevant third-party suppliers, coordinating issue resolution, service requests, and technical escalations to ensure the effective operation of services and minimise disruption to business operations. This includes engagement with third-party application and service providers where required, including but not limited to Construction Industry Scheme App (MITL), OCR for e-Invoicing (Continia), and Eque2 (MiraclePay). JET Enterprise and Microsoft. The supplier shall work collaboratively with Department stakeholders and the Department's managed service provider to ensure the effective operation, maintenance, resilience and ongoing evolution of the service. The Authority anticipates entering into a contract for the provision of ongoing managed services and specialist professional services to support the current on-premises deployment hosted within Microsoft Azure and the future evolution of the platform. Suppliers wishing to participate in this procurement must register on the Jaggaer portal at https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html and search for the ssq entitled ‘SSQ_850 – Microsoft Business Central Delivery and Support Partner – Procurement Specific Questionnaire’. Suppliers are required to complete and submit their PSQ response through the portal no later than 4pm on 17th November 2026. Suppliers should ensure that all requested information and supporting documentation are submitted by the stated deadline. The Authority reserves the right to reject late submissions in accordance with the procurement documents.

Renewal: The contract will have an initial term of three years. The Department may, at its discretion, extend the contract for a further period of up to two years. Following that extension, the Department may extend the contract for one additional period of up to one year. The maximum total contract term, including all extensions, will therefore be six years (3+2+1). The extensions may be exercised at the buyer’s absolute discretion based on ongoing Departmental need, satisfactorily levels of performance and value for money. The Department is not obliged to exercise either extension option. Any extension will be subject to the terms of the contract and formal written notice being issued in accordance with its provisions. Options: Following contract award, the Department may require the successful supplier to assess and advise on options to improve the resilience, recovery and continuity of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and its integrated services. Working collaboratively with the Department’s architecture, infrastructure and cyber security teams, the supplier maybe required to undertake feasibility assessments for backup, failover, replication and recovery arrangements; evaluate the associated technical, security, data protection, operational and cost implications; and identify relevant dependencies, risks and recovery requirements. Any resulting hosting resilience, continuity or disaster recovery solution will be co-designed with the Department and progressed only where requested by the Department. Where the Department elects to proceed with such a solution, the successful supplier may be required to deliver the agreed services as part of the contract scope and core service requirements.

Procurement Act 2023

Competitive flexible procedure

Submission must be made via the Jaggaer portal, accessible via the ssq entitled ‘SSQ_850 – Microsoft Business Central Delivery and Support Partner – Procurement Specific Questionnaire’. https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

Bidding documents: Please see the ssq entitled ‘SSQ_850 – Microsoft Business Central Delivery and Support Partner – Procurement Specific Questionnaire’ and DOC_001 Information and Guidance document for information.