Eastern Multi-Academy Trust Managed Service Procurement

Eastern Multi-Academy Trust is a regional multi-academy trust with primary and secondary phase academies across the East of England.

The first secondary phase Academy, King's Lynn Academy, opened in 2010. 2014 was a period of rapid growth with two primary phase academies - Nelson Academy in Downham Market and Eastgate Academy in King's Lynn - joining the Trust followed in September by another secondary phase academy, King Edward VII Academy. Southery Academy became our third primary phase academy in 2016 and in 2017, the Trust also welcomed North Wootton Academy, Upwell Academy, and Emneth Academy in the primary phase.

In 2017 the Trust expanded further afield, with three primary academies in Thetford joining: Diamond Academy, Norwich Road Academy and Admirals Academy. Two more primary schools joined the Trust in the Thetford area, with Queensway Infant Academy in Thetford and West Row Academy in December 2017. Glade Academy in Brandon joined the Trust in January 2018 and Raleigh Infant Academy in July 2018 to complete a Breckland hub.

Our academies promote individual learning through inspirational teaching and challenging lessons, driving up academic standards and achievement rates well above national levels.

The Eastern Multi-Academy Trust seeks to offer mutual support from one academy to another, develop shared learning and understanding, collaborate to achieve better outcomes, recognise unique qualities and differences, be positive and aspirational, focus on the successes of individuals and develop a culture of healthy competition.

This procurement encompasses the items noted below. In essence, 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 end same end date of the initial contract.

Further details regarding timescales are noted below but in summary this is advertised as a 66 month contract with a maximum 5 year managed service with start and end dates as follows:

• Contract Start Date - 1st February 2022
• Service start date - 1st August 2022
• Service end date - 31st July 2027

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. It is envisaged the main part of this will be complete by the end of the Summer of 2022, subject to funding. To enable both planning and any preliminary works to take place the contract will start from the 1st February with the responsibility for the full managed service starting from the 1st August 2022.

The companies identified from these shortlisting questions to receive the ITT 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 core 50 week service
• service desk
• local staffing that bidders deem necessary to deliver the SLA
• 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
• probable integration and upgrade of the communications and security infrastructure