The Charter Schools Educational Trust ICT Managed Service

The Charter Schools Educational Trust began in 2010

In 2016, the Trust opened a second secondary school under the Free School programme in East Dulwich, with a commitment to provide specialist places for students with autism.

In 2020, we were joined by our first primary school, Charles Dickens Primary School and Nursery in the north of the borough of Southwark, as the Trust sought to become a home to community schools for children and young people from two to eighteen years old.

The Trust has since grown to six schools across Southwark, all sharing a commitment to our mission, inspiring and nurturing children and young people in South London to excel through education that transforms lives and strengthens our diverse communities.

The ICT Support at the Trust is currently provided by a mix of internal staff and external contractors (4) who provide a mix of onsite and remote support.

The reason for this procurement is that the Trust wishes to consolidate its ICT provision, over time, into a single outsourced service that will deliver both the operational service and 'joined up' infrastructure.

This procurement is all about identifying a single supplier to provide a fully outsourced managed service. At the sole discretion of the Trust any future schools that the Trust may incorporate into the Trust will also be added to the ICT contract. Any additional schools will co-terminate to the same end date as the initial contract.

Further details regarding timescales are noted below but in summary this is advertised as a 60 month contract with a maximum 5 year managed service with start and end dates as follows:

• Service start date - 1st April 2023
• Service end date - 31st March 2028

The new Managed service provider will also deliver a range of technology and change management projects to go ahead as soon as possible. The main focus of these projects is to address technology issues in schools and 'join up' the schools into a single network provision.

Given the current incumbent contractual position regarding Charter School East Dulwich this school will be included in the Contract but operational service would not begin until August 2026. It is expected that the successful contractor from this procurement will work closely with the East Dulwich contractor until August 2026 to enable a 'joined up' service.

A full technical analysis of each school will be provided to shortlisted bidders at the ITT Stage.

The companies identified from these shortlisting questions to receive the ITT for the Managed service will then receive a detailed set of requirements. For the purposes of this shortlisting stage bidders should assume that the ITT will include, but not be limited to;

• strategic advice and direction to the Trust regarding ICT
• a 42 week onsite service - Primary Sites
• a 50 week onsite service - Secondary Site
• a re-active onsite support service for the Trust administrative and management staff based on 50 weeks pa.
• service desk - full time except Bank Holidays
• local staffing that bidders deem necessary to deliver the SLA.
• 24 x 7 x 365 remote monitoring and management
• responsibility for design, specification, installation and management of all ICT infrastructure
• supply of goods and services based on an agreed Best Value (BV) approach
• management of all ICT against an agreed SLA
• management of 3rd parties
• relevant monitoring, management, patching and reporting
• training - technical and curriculum as necessary
• expectation that the provider will drive innovation
• risk registers and inventory management
• collective partnership targets aligned to the Trusts objectives
• due diligence for future schools

Bidders should note the following;

• The Trust will provide a standard contract as part of the ITT Pack
• There is not expected to be an initial requirement for TUPE