Official UK procurement notice
Framework Agreement for Connectivity Services for Educational Establishments
Authority: Norfolk County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNorfolk County Council is seeking to replace its existing framework agreement for education connectivity which is expiring. Norfolk County Council has a requirement for partners to supply and install broadband connectivity suitable for education environments, in line with the Department for Education Digital and technology standards for schools and colleges.
The Framework Agreement will be open to all educational establishments to purchase from within the East of England, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire.
The scope of this Framework Agreement includes the supply, installation, management, maintenance, technical architecture, system design and project management associated with the provision, and end of contract decommissioning of the services.
Full details of the requirement can be found in the Service Specification, which forms a Schedule to the Terms and Conditions.
- How the procedure runs: This is a simplified Competitive Flexible procedure, in that we intend to have only two stages 1) The Invitation to Tender 2) Invitation to provide a system demonstration We do not intend to hold dialogues but reserve the right to add a dialogue and invitation to final tender stage after system demonstrations have been held.
CPV: Internet services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Type
- Open framework
- Call-offs
- call-offs may be awarded directly or by further competition
- Places
- up to 4 suppliers
- Framework period
- 4 yrs from 1 Mar 2027
- Buyer regions
- UKF3, UKH11, UKH12, UKH14, UKH15, UKH16, UKH17, UKH3
- Supplier levy on call-offs (max %)
1% of call-off value · Norfolk County Council will require suppliers to pay a rebate to Norfolk County Council of 1% on contracts valued over £2,000 per annum
Who may buy through it
The Framework Agreement will be open to all educational establishments, for example Schools, Academies, Trusts, Federations, Adult Learning centres, Nurseries, Preschools, and Alternative provisions to purchase from within the East of England, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire.
Published description of the framework
Each time a framework user has a requirement it will either:
- hold a competition involving all suppliers capable of performing the contract. This will involve inviting bids from Suppliers on the framework and will be scaled to the size and complexity of the requirement (“Further Competition”)
or
- directly award a contract to one supplier from information supplied in this Invitation to Tender and from the prices submitted in the price schedule (“Direct Award”)
Contracts awarded under the framework may have a maximum total duration of 5 years. No contract awarded from the framework will be permitted to extend beyond 31 January 2036 and must be awarded during the term of the Framework.
Users of the framework will be able to refine, but not fundamentally alter, the criteria specified in the Invitation to Tender Each framework user will be able to decide what percentage of marks it wants to allocate to each of the evaluation criteria, within the maximum and minimum amounts allowed.
The Council reserves the right for users of the framework to conduct a Direct Award process in addition to the further competition route, where the requirement can clearly be met through information supplied in this Invitation to Tender by a single Supplier.
Direct Awards will be made based on the information supplied in Applicants’ responses to this Invitation to Tender and from the prices submitted in the price schedule, and will take into account:
- The services offered in the Invitation to Tender aligned with the specific requirement
- The price(s) quoted in the Price Schedule
- Any capacity constraints indicated within the framework tender response.
Where a Provider is unable to fulfil the requirement at direct contract award, the next most appropriate Provider will be awarded the contract.
In the event of a tie for 4th place, we reserve the right to appoint more than 4 suppliers to the framework agreement.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£1,500,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (7)
- DfE Standards: 12%
- Filtering and Monitoring: 12%
- Service Capability: 11%
- Service Delivery: 10%
- System Demonstration: 10%
- Price: 40%
- Environmental Impacts: 5%
Published award criteria (7)
- DfE Standards
- Filtering and Monitoring
- Service Capability
- Service Delivery
- Environmental Impacts
- System Demonstration
- Price
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- “Framework Agreement for Connectivity Services for Educational…” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 4 suppliers, not a single contract: call-offs may be direct or by further competition.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- The Framework Agreement will be open to all educational establishments, for example Schools, Academies, Trusts, Federations, Adult Learning centres, Nurseries, Preschools, and Alternative provisions to purchase from within the East of England, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire.
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA, CPTPP)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 24 Aug 2026, 15:25 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 30 Nov 2026
- Authority reference
NCCT43494- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-084807- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06eaccFind a Tender
- How it runs
This is a simplified Competitive Flexible procedure, in that we intend to have only two stages
- The Invitation to Tender
- Invitation to provide a system demonstration
We do not intend to hold dialogues but reserve the right to add a dialogue and invitation to final tender stage after system demonstrations have been held.
- Risks
On 4 December 2025, the Secretary of State for Local Government made a written statement [UIN HCWS1128] stating that the government intends to establish a Mayoral Strategic Authority for Norfolk and Suffolk as soon as possible, and that it is minded to hold inaugural mayoral elections in May 2028.
Although Norfolk’s councils were expected to take part in a move to Unitary status in the near future, the proposal to merge smaller authorities and the County Council have, for the timebeing, been withdrawn.
Should unitary local government in Norfolk proceed and/or a Mayoral Strategic Authority covering Norfolk be established (i) the Framework Agreement may be transferred, assigned or novated to any successor authority(ies) to the council, or to any joint body incorporating or formed by any such successor and/or to any Mayoral Strategic Authority; and/or (ii) the council or a successor authority or joint body may order services on behalf of other local authorities serving any area within Norfolk's current geographical boundaries.
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 19 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 9 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
- Supplier levy on call-offs (max %)
call-off levy · 1% of call-off value · Norfolk County Council will require suppliers to pay a rebate to Norfolk County Council of 1% on contracts valued over £2,000 per annum
This procurement will be managed electronically via the Councils e-procurement system. To participate in this procurement, applicants must first be registered on the system at in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Home ↗. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Buyer… ↗. Once registered you will be able to see the procurement project under the tenders section and express an interest to view the documentation and access any clarifications. If you encounter any difficulties whilst using the system you can contact the In-tend support team by phoning +44 8442728810 or e-mailing [email protected].
Timeline
24 Aug 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 8 dates- Planning notice published63 days ago24 Aug 2026, 15:25 BST
- Next notice expected49 days ago7 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published48 days ago8 Sept 2026, 11:44 BST
- Latest notice published21 days ago5 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST
- Clarification questions by17 days ago9 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends7 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown19 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
- Today27 Oct 2026
- Award decision expected byin 34 days30 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 124 days1 Mar 2027
Notice history
6 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 24 Aug 2026- Planned procurement notice published24 Aug 2026, 15:25 BSTUK3
- Tender notice published8 Sept 2026, 11:44 BSTUK4
- Published value published: £1,500,0008 Sept 2026, 11:44 BST
- Status changed to active8 Sept 2026, 11:44 BST
- Tender notice published5 Oct 2026, 12:48 BSTUK4
- Deadline moved to 19 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST5 Oct 2026, 12:48 BST+10 days · was 9 Oct 2026, 11:00 BST
Published amendments (1)
The tender submission deadline has been extended from 11am BST 9th October to 11am BST 19th October, providing an additional ten days for the preparation of bids.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (6)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender