Suppliers sought for £60m London schools IT bonanza

Lewisham council leads hunt for 160 suppliers

The London Borough of Lewisham has kicked off the search for dozens of suppliers to provide schools across the capital with up to £60m worth of IT kit.

The council unveiled its Lewisham ICT Framework for Education (LIFE 2014) tender document today, which outlines its hunt for up to 160 IT providers with which it can work over the next four years.

The suppliers will sell networks, telecoms, databases and other services to schools as part of the deal, which will be worth between £40m and £60m over its lifetime.

The contract will be split into six lots: network server solutions and services; active and passive networks; interactive classroom and AV solutions and services; hardware devices and peripherals, ICT support services; and ICT installation, consultancy and training services.

Lewisham council said the framework will transform the way London's schools procure IT.

"The aim of this framework is to allow schools to act as ‘intelligent customers' and enable them to retain control and management of their own solutions, risks and budgets," it said in the tender document.

"The framework will provide customers with a choice of preferred suppliers in each lot. While many customers may opt to manage different services from across the framework lots themselves, there is an opportunity to appoint one specific supplier to manage services from a number of lots on their behalf, if required."