Race for £7bn School Framework Renewal

The Department of Education (DfE) has started a tender process for a new line-up of firms to deliver its £7 billion school building programme over four years.

There are more than 30 contractors on the existing schools and further education colleges mega framework, all of which will need to reapply to join the new panel of preferred contactors, which will be selected in Autumn 2021.

DfE chiefs are getting ready for a major school building push, as promised by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as part of his COVID-19 infrastructure recovery programme.

More than £1 billion is to be released shortly to fund the first 50 projects of an ambitious, 10-year school rebuilding programme, starting from 2020/21. The first of these projects is set to be confirmed in Autumn 2021, with construction on the first sites to begin in September 2021.

Much like the previous framework, firms can bid for 22 lots. For high-value projects over £12 million, England is being split into North and South regional panels of building contractors. Medium value projects, valued between £5 million and £12 million, are to be divided into eight regional lots and lower value schemes into a dozen regional lots.

The DfE Constriction Framework lots include:

High Value Band:

• North: Total spend £1.25 billion – 5 firms
• South £2.25 billion – 7 firms

Medium Value Band:

• North East of England and Yorkshire: £300m – 5 firms
• East Midlands: £200m – 5 firms
• East of England: £300m – 6 firms
• London: £720m – 6 firms
• South East of England: £400m – 6 firms
• South West of England: £250m – 5 firms
• West Midlands £200m: – 5 firms
• North West of England: £150m – 4 firms

Low Value Band:

• North East of England: £75m – 4 firms
• Yorkshire and the Humber: £75m – 4 firms
• East Midlands: £60m – 5 firms
• East of England A: £60m – 5 firms
• East of England B: £75m – 5 firms
• London: £150m- 6 firms
• South East of England A: £150m – 6 firms
• South East of England B: £75m – 5 firms
• South West of England A: £50m – 4 firms
• South West of England B: £60m – 4 firms
• West Midlands: £75m – 5 firms
• North West of England: £75m – 4 firms

Firms have until 5^th February 2021 to submit prequalification information. If you are interested, you can find more information here.

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