Provision of ICT Managed Services - Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School

Stepney All Saints School initially engaged Everything ICT to support and manage the procurement of a new managed ICT services contract. Everything ICT managed the process through to the stage at which suppliers had submitted their written proposals for evaluation.

The School appointed a three-person evaluation panel to assess the submitted proposals against the published requirements. During that process, the School was then asked to reduce the field from five suppliers to two suppliers based solely on the written quality submissions and before the School had been provided with, or had evaluated, the suppliers' pricing information or met them.

The School raised concerns with Everything ICT about proceeding in this way, as the School considered that it should be able to consider the overall tender submissions, including both quality and price, before determining which suppliers should progress. Everything ICT maintained its proposed approach. As a result of these concerns regarding the management and decision-making process, the School decided to withdraw from the externally managed arrangement.

The School then continued the procurement internally. The substantive managed ICT services specification, service requirements and scope remained materially unchanged from those used in the earlier process. The School proceeded to evaluate the suppliers using the same underlying requirement as per the procurement act and government tender evaluation requirements and its stated quality and price methodology.

Following the completed evaluation, Eduthing Ltd was identified as the highest-ranked supplier and was initially selected as the School's preferred supplier.

After that decision, the School became aware in its due diligence process that Eduthing Ltd had entered administration. In light of that significant change in circumstances, the School determined that it was not appropriate to proceed with the proposed award to Eduthing Ltd.

The School therefore reviewed the results of the completed competitive evaluation and identified Classroom365 as the next highest-ranked suitable supplier. Classroom365 had already participated in the competitive process and had been independently assessed against the same technical, service and commercial requirements as the other bidders.

During the School's subsequent review of the procurement documentation and statutory publication requirements, the School was unable to locate the required UK4 Tender Notice on the Central Digital Platform in relation to the procurement. The School had understood that the relevant procurement publication requirements had been dealt with during the earlier Everything ICT-managed stage of the process.

The School has contacted Everything ICT seeking clarification regarding the original tender notice and any associated publication information. At the date of publication of this Transparency Notice, the School has not received information confirming that the required UK4 Tender Notice was published.

The School now requires continuity of managed ICT services in order to maintain the operation, security and availability of its core ICT infrastructure, network, safeguarding and filtering systems, communications, cloud services, service desk arrangements and approximately 1,450 student and 220 staff devices as our current service provider will be leaving us on 31st October 2026.

The circumstances now facing the School arise from a combination of the withdrawal from the externally managed procurement process, the subsequent insolvency of the initially selected supplier, the later discovery that the required tender notice could not be located, and the need to maintain continuity of critical ICT services.

Classroom365 is not being selected without competition. It was already assessed through the substantive competitive procurement exercise and was the next highest-ranked suitable supplier after Eduthing Ltd.

In view of the need to secure continuity of essential ICT services, the School considers that it is necessary to proceed with the proposed award to Classroom365 rather than undertake a further procurement exercise. The School is publishing this Transparency Notice in advance of the proposed award so that the procurement history, the circumstances giving rise to the proposed award and the identity of the intended supplier are placed openly on the public record.

The School intends to publish a Contract Award Notice before entering into the contract and to observe an appropriate standstill period before contract signature.