Sixteen schools will initially be built under the framework with further schemes expected as work progresses, taking total spend to £95m.

The framework will be delivered in two lots covering initially a bundle of four larger schools worth £12m and a dozen smaller school projects worth £11m, which will be split into two batches.

Originally, the Education Funding agency had planned to use one offsite supplier, but now it aims to appoint three firms.

The schools are being brought through under the second wave of the priority schools programme.

EFA aims to develop and apply the solutions developed under this framework to the larger secondary school block programme.

The procurement documents are available free of charge from the Delta eSourcing portal. Shortlisted firms will be invited to bid in April.