Abandoning a Tender Process: Practical Guidance for Schools, Academies and Trusts

For maintained schools, academies, and MATs, running an effective and compliant procurement process is essential — but sometimes the best decision is to abandon a tender and start again. Whether your procurement falls under the Procurement Act 2023 (PA2023) or is a below-threshold exercise, understanding when and how you can abandon a process helps protect the you from risk and ensures fairness to bidders.

When Can a School or Trust Abandon a Tender?

You can abandon a procurement at almost any stage, provided the decision is made fairly, transparently, and without favouring any bidder. Common reasons include:

Procedural or compliance errors – e.g., incorrect evaluation criteria, unclear specifications, wrong documents published or mistakes in scoring models.
Unsuitable or insufficient bids – where none meet your needs, represent value for money, or pass minimum requirements.
Changes in need or funding – such as budget restrictions, curriculum changes, or site developments affecting the requirement.
Market shifts – if supplier interest is low or new options become available that better meet your needs.
Internal governance issues – for example, discovering the wrong procurement route was chosen or that key approvals were missing.

What Steps Should You Take?

If a maintained school, academy or MAT decides to abandon a tender, the process should be carefully managed:

Document the rationale

Keep an internal record of the reasons for abandoning and who approved the decision. Record keeping is an area where contracting authorities regularly fall short so do keep detailed notes of the decision making process.

Notify all bidders

Provide a short and consistent explanation to every supplier involved, maintaining fairness and transparency.

Publish required notices
- - For procurements under the PA2023: issue a UK12 Procurement Termination Notice (Regulation 37) on the Central Digital Platform.
  - For below-threshold procurements: no statutory notice is required, but good practice is to notify bidders formally and record the decision.

Review lessons learned

Identify what went wrong – unclear requirements, incorrect templates, unrealistic timelines, insufficient understanding of the school/Trust needs – to avoid repeating issues when re-tendering.

Restart only once ready

Ensure the specification, evaluation method, procurement route and approvals are all reviewed and corrected before reissuing the tender.

Risks of Abandoning a Tender

Abandoning a process can create challenges for you:

Delays to ‘new’ service delivery (e.g., catering, cleaning, IT, estates works) which could be a bigger issue if your current service provision is poor
Reputational impact with suppliers
Additional work for the Central Team and/or individual school staff
Possible challenge if the decision is not well evidenced or communicated

Benefits of Abandoning a Tender

Often, abandoning a process is the safest and most sensible choice:

Prevents award of a contract that won’t deliver value for money
Reduces legal and challenge risk if a compliance issue is identified
Allows requirements to be refined so the next tender is clearer, more market-friendly and there is an increased likelihood your contract will deliver what you want
Demonstrates good governance and commitment to fairness
Protects pupils and staff by ensuring you procure services that genuinely meet its educational and operational needs

Conclusion

For schools, academies, and MATs, abandoning a tender can feel like a setback — but with clear reasoning, proper communication, and strong governance, it is often the right decision. When handled well, it safeguards public money, reduces compliance risks, and ultimately leads to a more successful re-tender that better meets the needs of all stakeholders including the pupils.