The Department for Education has opened bidding for its anticipated next-generation framework to deliver the schools building programme in England.

The existing £7bn Construction Framework (CF21) of 23 firms is set to expire in November 2025.

This will be replaced with a new construction framework estimated to be worth over £15bn, based on a six-year term with the option to extend for a further two years.

Successful firms will deliver a mix of projects from primary and secondary schools to further education and university technical colleges.

DfE is aiming to appoint a greater number and variety of firms to the Construction Framework 25 (CF25), which this time will see a mix of contractors, offsite specialists, and smaller builders.

Its lotting structure will see high-value projects over £12m or 2,500m2 in size split between north and south territories.

Ten firms will be selected for each of the two high-value lots.

A further eight regional lots for lower value school projects of £4.4m – £12m are also available with the DfE hoping to attract regional and smaller contractors.

Seven contractors are expected to be given spots on each of the smaller regional lots.

It will be the first industry mega framework to be tendered under new Procurement Act procedures.

Arcadis is supporting the DfE in the evaluation of tender documents.

Bid scoring will be weighted 20% each for Framework Delivery and Approach; Design and Construction Quality; and Price.

Up to 10% of the assessment scoring will be allocated to each of three other performance categories: Delivery Quality; Social Value; and Pricing Quality.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation; and Information Management will each account for 5% of total scoring.

PQQs need to be returned by 7 May with successful firms named in December.

Details are available from the Jaggaer portal or email DfE.