Becta suppliers react angrily to closure

Although there are other procurement frameworks for schools

Future of Home Access Programme uncertain

The government’s decision to close the education ICT agency Becta has been greeted with dismay by vendors on the agency’s list of approved ICT suppliers.

Bordan Tkachuk, chief executive of Viglen, described the news as a “bombshell” that had taken both Becta and suppliers by surprise, because of the speed with which the announcement was made.

Becta, which has been axed as part of the government’s public spending cuts, had a number of procurement frameworks that specified particular ICT companies from which schools could procure goods and services.

Each framework lasted three years, with an option to extend for one year. The frameworks saved money for schools, because it meant that they didn’t have to undertake a full tender process under EU regulations when they wanted to buy ICT goods or services.

It is not clear whether the frameworks will continue after Becta closes. “We can’t get clarity,” said Tkachuk.

“The biggest problem is the lack of direction and the lack of follow-up in terms of saying what is happening other than it [Becta] is going to close.”

Some of the current frameworks are due to expire at the end of July this year, and companies are in the process of reapplying for tenders.

“Responding to these complex and often technical documents is very time consuming and expensive,” said Yolanta Gill, chief executive of European Electronique.

“We have currently diverted a number of our key technical personnel and project managers to respond to public procurement tenders, and we are just about to hit our busiest period of the year, when all the schools projects are due to be delivered. Therefore, a clear answer as to the future of these procurements would be most welcome.”

Suppliers also paid tribute to Becta’s success in promoting ICT use in schools.

“In the past decade, schools have benefited from an unprecedented investment in ICT and Becta has been part of making that happen,” an RM spokeswoman said. “The UK leads the world in technology in education, and we want to maintain that.”

Sarah Burnett, a senior analyst at Ovum, said that before Becta, schools had suffered from underinvestment in ICT, and said she was particularly concerned about the future of the agency’s Home Access Programme that provides grants to children from low-income families to buy computers: “The programme was going to run for several years. What will happen to those children that no longer get the computers?”

Although the closure of Becta will create difficulties for suppliers, Tkachuk said that it would not be disastrous for companies like Viglen because schools were able to procure using other frameworks such as OGC 10 and 11. “I suspect that once the dust settles, and people understand the other channels they can procure through, it won’t stop the spending in schools,” he said.