St Chad's Academies Trust - ICT Managed Service

St Chad's Academies Trust is one of the Lichfield Diocesan Multi Academy Trust (MAT) a part of Lichfield Diocese, one of the 44 Dioceses which make up the Church of England. The Diocese covers most of the County of Staffordshire, the northern part of the County of Shropshire and a substantial part of the former Metropolitan County of the West Midlands. The Diocese envelops all or part of 7 Local Authorities and has 207 Church Schools and academies in its remit.

The Board works in partnership with the seven Local Authorities in the Diocese (Sandwell, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall and Wolverhampton) and also with the Department for Education and Academy Trusts. The Board also works alongside higher and further education providers.

The Board ensures that headteachers, teachers and governors have the intellectual and spiritual resources to promote the distinctive Christian character of our schools. The Board also supports the collaboration between clergy, parishes, church and community schools.

The ICT Support at the Trust is currently provided by a 13 outsourced support providers who provides a mix of scheduled onsite visits and remote support. The Trust is taking the opportunity to go to the market to identify the best innovative and forward-looking partner to support them in the delivery and development of their ICT provision over the next five years.

This procurement includes (but may not be limited to) the items listed below.

• A core managed service, management of all ICT against an agreed SLA
• A Service Desk, available 52 weeks a year including out of hours access
• Local staffing which suppliers deem necessary to deliver the service and meet the SLA requirements - 42 weeks onsite in schools and 50 weeks for the Head Office
• Strategic advice and direction to the Trust regarding ICT
• Responsibility for design, specification, installation, and management of all ICT infrastructure
• Supply of goods and services based on an agreed Best Value approach
• Management of 3rd parties where relevant to the ICT support
• Relevant monitoring, management, patching
• Regular performance reporting
• CPD and training - digital skills and curriculum as necessary
• There is an expectation that the provider will support and/or drive innovation
• Maintain technical documentation
• Maintain operational documentation, for example inventory management and risk registers
• Collective partnership targets aligned to the Trust objectives
• In school support for the integration and upgrade of the connectivity, communications and security infrastructure as required
• Suppliers may be required to deliver a range of technology and change management projects in addition to the providing the core managed service.

Suppliers should note the following:

• There are currently 13 suppliers supporting the 19 sites
• The Trust will provide a standard contract as part of the ITT Pack
• There is not expected to be a requirement for TUPE from existing suppliers