CCS unveils £300m Becta framework successor

About 20 suppliers to be selected for four-year education IT framework

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has taken the wraps off a £300m education IT framework which will replace its predecessor Becta.

In a tender document published yesterday, the CCS outlined its plans to recruit about 20 IT providers to the ICT Services for Education project, which will be worth £300m over its lifetime.

The Becta project was first set up in 1998 by Labour to promote learning through technology, but in 2010, as part of the coalition's cost-cutting measures, the organisation was closed. A clutch of smaller suppliers was awarded a place on the framework - which was then handled by the Department for Education - after the closure was announced, and it is due to expire soon.

The CCS said the new framework will cover a wide range of IT such as hardware, software, networks, peripherals, AV kit, user devices and mobile equipment. Broadband does not form part of the scheme as it will be provided by separate specialist providers, the tender document said.

The CCS said suppliers should have a wide range of skills.

"Providers should be capable of supplying a range of delivery models including supply and fit; support and maintenance; systems configuration and management, partial or fully managed ICT service; and complete integrated services with other technologies and partners," the notice read.

"Within such models, providers must be able to supply a range of ICT solutions. Providers will be expected to supply and integrate solutions into both green field (new build) situations as well as legacy ICT environments requiring integration and repurposing of existing ICT."