Sixteen VARS are in a prime position to bid for work under the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme following a seal of approval from the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) last month (CRN, 14 August).

Following a six-month evaluation period, 16 VARs made it onto Becta’s three-year IT Infrastructure Services Framework list. The resellers said the approval will give them an advantage over non-Becta approved VARs when tendering for BSF contracts.

Ed Collins, software and services sales director at Azzurri, which made the list, told CRN: “The BSF programme is the biggest single government investment for improving school buildings for more than 50 years. We are in discussions with several major construction companies and involved in one tender at the moment.”

Unveiled by the government in 2004, BSF aims to provide all secondary schools with 21st century facilities over a 10- to 15-year timeframe. The first wave of the scheme will see an estimated 200 schools benefit from a share of £2.1bn capital investment, with IT being a key provision. Consortiums of construction companies and IT suppliers will bid for the different tranches of work.

“The Becta approval gives us an advantage because it means we don’t have to go through a lengthy, expensive EU [European Union] procurement process. Therefore, construction companies will prefer to work with us, rather than a non-Becta approved supplier,” Collins said.

Irene Rutherford, sales manager for education at Linetex Computers, said: “Although Linetex has been going for more than 20 years, education is a new area for us, so we were delighted to be granted Becta approval. BSF work is awarded in waves and will run over the next 10 to 15 years, so it is definitely something we would like to be involved in.”

Becta lits 16 VARs for IT Infrastructure Services Framework supply