RM lifted by big money NDNA framework deal

Back to school: the NDNA deal builds on RM's 15 years of work in the higher education market

System builder RM has won a lucrative slice of a multi-million pound public sector contract to fulfil the IT hardware needs of UK higher education students.

RM was one of five successful companies to snare a share in the National Desktop and Notebook Agreement (NDNA) Framework which strives to supply notebooks, PDAs and sub-notebooks to all Consortia-affiliated universities and further education colleges throughout the UK.

Other successful bidders include rival system builder Ergo, Dell, Samsung (via Lanway, RM and Stone) and Toshiba (via Getech and XMA).

The overall contract is worth an estimated £76m per year and set to run for an initial three year term with an option to extend to a fourth year.

The system builder currently owns a 23 per cent share of the desktop element of the contract, worth an estimated £12m-13m a year. It will partner with HP under the deal to offer students a choice from its own-branded devices or HP’s full range of products.

Jesse Johnson, higher education sales manager at RM, said: “We have been working with universities for 15 years under our own RM brand. The significant thing is that we partner HP for this contact and are able to pair up with a globally recognised tier-one brand, giving us access to universities that we have never been able to reach before.”

Neil Bellamy, director of Ergo, said: “Ergo has a proud history of working with colleges and universities across the UK. This is the 13th year running that we have been included on this framework. We are delighted to work in partnership with NDNA Consortia members and look forward to another successful term.”