Procurement description
The Department for Education is seeking a delivery partner to establish and operate a National Centre for Arts and Music Education. The intention is to establish the Centre by September 2026. The Centre will play a pivotal role in delivering the government’s ambition to revitalise arts in schools in England, so every child can access a rich, high‑quality arts education that nurtures creativity, confidence, cultural understanding, and personal expression.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report on 5 November 2025. The government also issued a response to the report on the same day, setting out the changes that will be made to the National Curriculum, qualifications, accountability, and enrichment. The first teaching of the new curriculum will be September 2028 and new GCSEs from September 2029, following consultation. The intention is to publish the new national curriculum in Spring 2027, following consultation on the draft later this year. Further policy will be published this year, in particular the Schools White Paper, changes to Attainment and Progress 8 accountability measures in a separate consultation document, and enrichment in schools in the Enrichment Framework guidance.
In the light of these reforms, the aim is for the Centre to act as a strategic system leader, working across national, regional, and local levels to strengthen arts provision in schools. By convening and mobilising a broad coalition of partners, the Centre is intended to create the conditions for meaningful social impact. It will coordinate and align funding, investment, and activity to maximise the collective impact of all partners involved in arts education in schools. It will also generate and share data and evidence to guide decision making and target support where access to high quality arts education is most unequal. In this way, the Centre will be an important partner in revitalising arts education, securing equitable access to high quality teaching and enrichment opportunities, particularly for children and communities currently least able to access them.
The delivery partner will lead the National Centre and therefore be responsible for the design, implementation, and oversight of the Music Hubs network to support delivery of these priorities:
• Priority 1: Providing strategic national leadership in revitalising arts in schools, mobilising a coalition of national, regional, and local partners to generate and direct investment to support equitable access to high-quality arts in school, with a focus on under-served communities.
• Priority 2: Supporting excellent teaching, through a new online CPD offer for primary and secondary school teachers and support to access existing high-quality teacher development provision available from others.
• Priority 3: Promoting arts education to school leaders, teachers, parents, and young people, including promoting opportunities for children and young people to progress in the arts and pursue their interests and career aspirations.
• Oversight of the Music Hubs network, including being fundholder for the network, monitoring hubs’ performance and delivery, and working with hubs to achieve the National Centre’s three priorities.
The National Centre will be established with a phased implementation plan for its programme of work from September 2026. This includes the Centre assuming responsibility for the Music Hubs network from 1 September 2027. This gives the Centre a year to plan the transition from existing oversight arrangements with Arts Council England, during which the Centre can undertake preliminary engagement with Music Hub partnerships before September 2027. The existing Music Hubs capital grant overseen by Arts Council England will also be extended to the end of April 2027. The National Centre will not therefore need to assume responsibility for this grant. Future funding for the Music Hubs revenue grant will be confirmed in due course and is separate to this contract value.
Tender Instructions:
The Department is administering the Tender process via Jaggaer, where the full suite of tender documents can be found. Unless they have previously done so, potential bidders will need to register to participate in this opportunity: https://education.app.jaggaer.com. Jaggaer is the only method for submitting tenders and clarification questions. Suppliers should not make any other form of approach to the Department in connection with this procurement. It is the responsibility of potential suppliers to ensure they can access and use the Jaggaer system.
Jaggaer is owned and hosted by an independent organisation. Any issues in respect of functionality or using the system must be directed to the Jaggaer helpdesk via 0800 069 8630 or https://www.jaggaer.com/submit-supplier-support-request/.
Potential Suppliers are responsible for ensuring that they understand the tender process and how to use Jaggaer. If any information is unclear, you consider that insufficient information has been provided, or there appears to be a technical error, you must raise an enquiry or request for clarification via the ‘messages’ functionality within Jaggaer. The clarification deadline is as stated in the procurement timetable. Please ensure that you have read all documentation thoroughly before submitting an enquiry.
Supplier information event:
Potential Suppliers are invited to attend a Supplier information event, facilitated on Microsoft Teams on 4th March 2026 at 14:00 – 15:30.
The session will be led by representatives of the Department and will focus on the requirements and the tendering process, with a ‘walkthrough’ of the procurement documents and guidance on what is required to submit a compliant tender. The session will include a presentation of key changes following the preliminary market engagement undertaken in 2025. A meeting link can be found on Jaggaer with the ITT documentation. Attendance by potential suppliers is not mandatory. The slides and any Q&As from the session will be uploaded to Jaggaer.
The Department is keen to maximise opportunities to participate in procurement across a wide range of organisations from the public, community, and private sectors, including 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.