Official UK procurement notice
Provision of ICT Managed Services
Authority: Equals Trust (Central government)·On behalf of: PHP Law LLP
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEquals Trust has issued a tender inviting contractors to provide ICT Managed Services. The aim of the contact is to have a consistent approach to IT support both for the pupils and the staff, moving over to a Trust model approach rolled out to all schools. This enables the Trust to maximise the effectiveness of the equipment and service, as well as helping to share resources and best practise across all sites. The proposed contract will encompass delivering the following services to the Trust which: a. are cost effective and delivers high quality technical support, system management and consultancy b. provides transparent all-inclusive pricing which allows accurate budgeting over the term of the Contract. c. provides a single point of contact for all of the Trust’s IT requirements and management of third-party providers. d. moves to a centralised Trust operating model, which has a consistent approach across schools. e. Centralises the management of the Contract at Trust level, rather than on an individual school by school basis.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 3 Mar 2031, 23:59 GMT.
- No preliminary market engagement: The Trust did not carry out preliminary market engagement (PME) prior to tender publication to prepare for this procurement. Tenderers shall be aware that under the Act, the Trust is not obligated to carry out PME. The justification is that the requirements are not complex, or niche and the Contracting Authority already has an understanding of what they want the service to deliver and the market is known.
CPV: Computer support and consultancy services · Computer-related services · Helpdesk and support services · IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£3,000,000
- Economic & financial standing
Please confirm whether you already have, or can commit to obtain, prior to the award of the contract, the levels of insurance cover indicated below: · Employer’s (Compulsory) Liability Insurance* = £5m · Public Liability Insurance = £5m · Professional Indemnity Insurance = £1m · Cyber Liability Insurance = £1m
- Technical & professional ability
Relevant experience and contract examples: Provide details of up to three contracts to meet conditions of participation relating to technical ability set out in the relevant notice or procurement documents, in any combination from the education sector. To constitute a pass, at least one contract example provided shall be relevant to the requirement, with a sufficient level of detail that provides confidence in the Tenderer’s established past experience in similar and relevant projects/contracts. Required to have:
- Cyber Essentials and/or ISO 27001 Accreditations or Competencies can be equivalents and can be confirmed will be in place in time for the start of the Contract.
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 (11)
- Service Delivery & Technical Support: 10%
- Support Structure & Service Level: 10%
- Asset & Software Management: 5%
- Hardware Procurement & Replacement: 5%
- Collaboration, Communication & Reporting: 7.5%
- Staff, Safeguarding & Compliance: 5%
- Risk Management & Mobilisation: 7.5%
- Pricing Approach: 10%
- Price: 30%
- Sustainability & Value for Money: 5%
- Network Environment: 5%
Published award criteria (11)
- Service Delivery & Technical Support
- Support Structure & Service Level
- Asset & Software Management
- Hardware Procurement & Replacement
- Collaboration, Communication & Reporting
- Staff, Safeguarding & Compliance
- Sustainability & Value for Money
- Risk Management & Mobilisation
- Pricing Approach
- Price
- Network Environment
- Economic & financial standing
Please confirm whether you already have, or can commit to obtain, prior to the award of the contract, the levels of insurance cover indicated below: · Employer’s (Compulsory) Liability Insurance* = £5m · Public Liability Insurance = £5m · Professional Indemnity Insurance = £1m · Cyber Liability Insurance = £1m
- Technical & professional ability
Relevant experience and contract examples: Provide details of up to three contracts to meet conditions of participation relating to technical ability set out in the relevant notice or procurement documents, in any combination from the education sector. To constitute a pass, at least one contract example provided shall be relevant to the requirement, with a sufficient level of detail that provides confidence in the Tenderer’s established past experience in similar and relevant projects/contracts. Required to have:
- Cyber Essentials and/or ISO 27001 Accreditations or Competencies can be equivalents and can be confirmed will be in place in time for the start of the Contract.
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Cancelled
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 3 Mar 2031
- First published
- 16 Mar 2026, 14:33 GMT
- Last source update
- 17 May 2026, 18:33 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 4 Jun 2026
- Authority reference
ET01.17- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-023566- Latest notice
- Procurement termination notice (UK12)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-066b28Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
The Contractor shall operate the Service efficiently and provide a commercial solution that offers best value to the Trust, proactively assessing where efficiencies can be made and discussing these and their cost benefits with the Trust. Invoicing will be monthly, in arrears from the end of the previous month. Where, during a monthly period, it has been identified, and agreed, that adjustments are required (in respect of service credits, additional works, errors or omissions), these will be taken account of within the invoice for the following month. The Contractor shall be aware of the following: a. The contract is a fixed price for the price per visit and therefore annual inflation must be built into the costs. b. No other pricing variance can be incorporated into the pricing for any year of the contract, including extensions.
- Risks
Service outages disrupting teaching, safeguarding and exams Cyber security & data protection breaches involving pupil and staff data Safeguarding failures due to ineffective filtering or monitoring Over‑reliance on a single supplier, creating exit or resilience issues Poor change management causing disruption during school hours Insufficient skills or capacity from the provider Cost escalation or poor value for money over the contract term Non‑compliance with GDPR, FOIA and education regulations
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 28 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 21 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
16 Mar 2026 → 4 Jan 2027 · 6 dates- Tender notice published219 days ago16 Mar 2026, 14:33 GMT
- Clarification questions by183 days ago21 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline176 days ago28 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Latest notice published157 days ago17 May 2026, 18:33 BST
- Award decision expected by139 days ago4 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today21 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 75 days4 Jan 2027
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 16 Mar 2026- Tender notice published16 Mar 2026, 14:33 GMTUK4
- Tender notice published2 Apr 2026, 16:58 BSTUK4
- Procurement termination notice published17 May 2026, 18:33 BSTUK12
- Status changed to complete17 May 2026, 18:33 BST
Published amendments (1)
The Award Criteria has been updated to ensure it reflects the award criteria published in the tender pack.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| supplier not published | — | 11 May 2026 | CancelledFollowing consideration of the clarifications raised and the discussions held during the virtual Q&A meeting, the Academy Trust has concluded that the current process will not deliver the outcome it requires. This is due to further work being needed to better define the scope of the service, together with the need to consider the current gaps in the IT asset information available and the pricing model. For these reasons, a decision has been made to cancel the current tender process and restart it at a later date. The Trust's initial intention is to begin again with a period of pre-market engagement, and further information on this will be issued in due course. |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- PHP Law LLPProcess contact pointProcuring entityTender process support
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Procurement termination notice Procurement termination notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender