Full line-up for £550m public sector framework revealed

Academia, Softcat and Insight among successful suppliers

The full line-up for the £550m Education Technology framework has been revealed, with 44 suppliers making the cut.

Crown Commercial Service (CCS), which runs the framework, had already announced the line-up for Lot 1, which is for the Department of Education, at the start of June.

Successful resellers on the framework - which facilitates IT buying for schools, colleges and universities - include Softcat, Academia, Daisy and XMA (a full supplier list can be found below).

Education Technology is the successor to the ICT Services for Education framework. CCS said the predecessor saw 46 per cent of its total spend go through SME suppliers.

Niall Quinn, director of CCS' technology division, said: "Guided by the feedback we have gathered by engaging with schools and the Department for Education, we are proud to offer a practical solution for schools to be able to procure all of their technology needs through one single agreement."

Nick Madhavj, boss at education reseller Joskos, said the framework and its predecessor have helped smaller VARs compete with the larger players.

"To a great degree the ICT Services for Education agreement levelled the playing field, and our results over the last four years are testament to that," he said.

"As a result we've scaled the company from being a local London business to now having trusted relationships with multi-academy trusts and schools across the UK.

"This has created over 75 new job opportunities and £40m of contract awards, leading to new partnerships with local suppliers across the UK and meaning Joskos ultimately has a greater impact in delivering our core purpose."

Mark McCormack, sales and marketing director at Academia, added: "We've been developing our managed service offerings over the last 18 months and this framework now gives us the platform to continue the growth in recent sales and support current and new customers.

"We aim to offer the best possible, cost-effective services wrapped in traditional Academia value-added curriculum and client solutions."