Equals Trust Provision of ICT Managed Service

Equals Trust intends to procure a fully managed ICT managed service for the pupils and employees of all schools and the Trust. The Trust spans the county of Nottinghamshire and is made up of 19 primary academies, with the potential to grow further, and a central team.

The aim of the future procurement to award a contract that delivers a consistent approach to IT both for the pupils and the staff, moving over to a Trust model approach rolled out to all schools. This will enable the Trust to maximise the effectiveness of the equipment and service, as well as helping to share resources and best practice across all sites.

The purpose of this market engagement is to inform a future procurement process to award a contract for this service. Feedback received will inform the procurement procedure selected, development of the final service specification and procurement documentation.

Through this engagement, the Trust aims to: Seek industry insight on the best methods of gathering the technical information required to support a robust, transparent procurement process which delivers best value to the Trust and achieves a standardised management model across the entire Trust; Gain feedback on the draft specification and information currently available to the Trust on ICT arrangements across the schools; Understand current market solutions; Explore implementation and transition approaches; Understand commercial and pricing models; Identify risks or other considerations prior to formal tender. To support these objectives, suppliers will be asked to respond to a structured set of thematic questions, as set out in Appendix 1 – Pre-Market Engagement Questionnaire.