Ministers will consider whether any extra “safeguards” are needed in future SATs procurements, following failures by contractor Pearson this summer. The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has begun early market engagement to “inform the assessment of our options” for delivery of primary school tests, according to a contract notice. The notice said the current arrangements for delivering the tests – which also includes optional key stage 1 SATs and the phonics screening check – will expire following the delivery of assessments in 2029. This year’s key stage 2 SATs were the first delivered by Pearson under its current contract, but results were delayed nine days following issues with its marking system. Ofsted’s chair Christine Gilbert is leading an independent review into the failures and is due to submit the findings to government this month. Her review will also evaluate whether changes to the delivery and operation of results – including a new model – could improve things. The Department for Education told Schools Week it will consider “whether any additional safeguards may be appropriate for future procurements” following the review. A freedom of information request sent by Schools Week shows that Pearson were one of just two final bids for the current SATs contract, which was awarded in 2024. The other bid was by a company owned by a recruitment firm at a higher price. The government has also published key performance indicator (KPI) measures for the SATs contract. They showed Pearson was rated “inadequate” for its KPI on data, and “approaching target” for its help desk service. Transition period The contract notice was published last week, more than three years before the existing contract managed by Pearson expires. This is not without precedent, as the existing contract went out to tender in October 2022, three years before Capita’s contract expired. The outsourcing giant experienced issues with its own systems in 2022. While Pearson’s contract is due to run out in January 2030, the estimated start date for the new contract is December 2027. Pearson was awarded the contract in April 2024 and was given an 18-month transition period to help develop its systems before it started delivering the tests in 2025-26. The original tender document said: “It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded in early 2024, to allow sufficient time for set-up.” It is not clear whether the time between December 2027 and January 2030 would also be used a transition period. Pearson’s contract is set to expire in January 2030, but the government was given the option to extend it by two years. It is not clear whether this option has been ruled out. When asked about the government notice, a Pearson spokesperson said it “would not be appropriate to comment on future procurement processes”. “Our focus is on delivering for schools, teachers and pupils under the current contract.” Just two bidders A freedom of information request sent by Schools Week showed that there were only two bidders for the current contract – Pearson and Reed in Partnership. Capita did not bid again, but would not say why. Reed in Partnership, which is part of the recruitment firm Reed, is a philanthropic company that runs skills training and back-to-work schemes with local and national government. Previous tender documents suggested that the contract was worth up to £180 million. The FOI showed that the value of Reed in Partnership’s contract bid was £197 million, while Pearson’s contract was worth £128.4 million, excluding VAT. The award criteria for the contract showed technical abilities were given the most weight, at 70, while price was weighted at 20 and social value was weighted at 10. The DfE said “full commercial, financial and technical assurance processes were undertaken as part of the procurement process”. Tim Oates, former director of assessment research and development at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, said there were not that many providers out there that can deliver these tests. “Every so often they test the water with a contract of this kind, and recognising that there were some shortcomings of Pearson recently, they’re almost certainly going to try and test the waters again, but hopefully, with due diligence in the light of previous failures.” He added: “You have to look at the technical capacity of your organisation. “Can they handle this number of papers, have they got access to marking capacity, have they got a good relationship with distributors of exam papers. “Have they got good data systems in terms of knowing where each school is, and knowing how many papers [are needed], how many kids there are on in each year group, and so on. That’s all critical. “There’s also a level of expertise, which is often not very explicit, but which is absolutely essential, which is: ‘do they understand educational testing?’ “Do they actually understand how marks relate to outcomes? Do they know what national standards actually mean?” Assessment services The STA has set up a “future service management programme” to consider its options for delivering assessment services. “These services include, but are not limited to, print production, collation and logistics, scanning, marking, customer support services, systems provision, data processing and integration.” The notice stated the engagement “is intended to improve STA’s understanding of current market capability, emerging technologies, innovative delivery approaches, commercial models and potential opportunities and constraints associated with the future provision of assessment services. “STA is seeking input from organisations with relevant expertise and experience in one or more aspects of the service.” The STA will hold an online supplier engagement event on 15 October, which will “provide an overview of the programme, the scope of services under consideration and specific questions on which STA is seeking supplier feedback”. It may also invite interested organisations to take part in further market engagement. “Feedback gathered through these activities will help shape STA’s understanding of the market and support the development of future recommendations”. Technical glitches Schools Week exposed a series of technical glitches about Pearson’s marking portal in the weeks leading up to results day. Gilbert’s review will be submitted to education secretary Lucy Powell this month. At the time of the results’ delay, then education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the government was “exploring all options for recourse, including financial penalties and cancellation of the contract agreed between Pearson and the previous government”. The failures prompted calls for the assessment series to be nationalised. KPI performance data related to the current contract published by the government showed Pearson was rated “inadequate” for data, following “failure relating to data accuracy, quality and timeliness”. Pearson was rated “approaching target” for its help desk service as “peak period activity resulted in call and email volumes significantly above forecast”. The exam board then increased the service’s capacity. A Pearson spokesperson said it would be inappropriate to comment as the independent review was ongoing, and that it “continues to cooperate fully and engage constructively throughout the process”. Four of the other KPIs from Pearson’s contract – including data breaches, provision of management information, service incidents, and physical security and information assurances – were not included in the government’s data.