Alpha Academies Trust – Multiple Procurement Projects

We are pleased to note that as part of our ongoing relationship with the Alpha Academies Trust, we are undertaking a series of procurement exercises on their behalf covering annual IT refresh, a new 1-1 Chromebook device scheme and an enhanced ICT Fully Managed Service requirement.

As a key strategic partner for the Trust, we manage IT procurements to ensure that they achieve best value while maintaining compliance with procurement regulations and best practice. Over recent months, we have undertaken three key procurement exercises.

1. Annual IT Refresh. The Trust has, for many years, had in place a rolling IT replacement plan to ensure that its entire IT estate, from infrastructure to interactive screens to devices, remains fit-for-purpose. This year, this amounted to in excess of 230 Windows-based devices and 180 Chromebooks. The tender was below the threshold necessitating a regulated process, so a simple two-lot tender was designed to ensure that each device type went to specialist vendors.
2. Chromebook 1-1 scheme. The Trust is in the process of fundamentally changing the way that it delivers IT. Although not a traditional 1-1 scheme, the aim was to ensure that entire subject area year groups have access to IT to enable the use of the latest specialist AI tools to enhance delivery and remove the need for manual marking and feedback generation within the next academic year. To support this ambitious programme, in excess of 750 Chromebook devices were procured. The value of this contract was above the threshold, and so to ensure that best value could be achieved, ITSpire Consulting took advantage of the freedoms in the Procurement Act 2023 to run a Competitive Flexible process via the Find-A-Tender service. This yielded exceptional value for the devices.
3. ICT Fully Managed Service. The Trust has, for 10 years, operated a fully managed service for the provision of its IT Services, support and infrastructure development. The most recent 5-year contract was scheduled to conclude toward the end of 2026, leading to a requirement for a new service. While the Trust was broadly happy with their incumbent supplier, they recognised that due to the changes in the way IT was being delivered, including the aforementioned 1-1 scheme and the migration over the previous contract to a serverless approach in the primary academies, a different model for the managed service would be needed. Once again, ITSpire Consulting took advantage of the flexibility of the competitive flexible model to undertake an expansive procurement to test the market fully for the new model of IT Service delivery. The outcome yielded not only a new way of working but also at a lower price than the previous model despite additional service elements being added.

ITSpire Consulting looks forward to continuing to work closely with Alpha Academies Trust to deliver exceptional value for money in future digital projects.

If you need help with any procurement exercise for your organisation, please get in touch.