Norfolk County Council is seeking to replace its existing framework agreement for education connectivity which is expiring. Norfolk County Council has a requirement for partners to supply and install broadband connectivity suitable for education environments, in line with the Department for Education Digital and technology standards for schools and colleges. The Framework Agreement will be open to all educational establishments to purchase from within the East of England, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire. The scope of this Framework Agreement includes the supply, installation, management, maintenance, technical architecture, system design and project management associated with the provision, and end of contract decommissioning of the services. Full details of the requirement can be found in the Service Specification, which forms a Schedule to the Terms and Conditions.

Procurement Act 2023

Competitive flexible procedure

Each time a framework user has a requirement it will either: • hold a competition involving all suppliers capable of performing the contract. This will involve inviting bids from Suppliers on the framework and will be scaled to the size and complexity of the requirement (“Further Competition”) or • directly award a contract to one supplier from information supplied in this Invitation to Tender and from the prices submitted in the price schedule (“Direct Award”) Contracts awarded under the framework may have a maximum total duration of 5 years. No contract awarded from the framework will be permitted to extend beyond 31 January 2036 and must be awarded during the term of the Framework. Users of the framework will be able to refine, but not fundamentally alter, the criteria specified in the Invitation to Tender Each framework user will be able to decide what percentage of marks it wants to allocate to each of the evaluation criteria, within the maximum and minimum amounts allowed. The Council reserves the right for users of the framework to conduct a Direct Award process in addition to the further competition route, where the requirement can clearly be met through information supplied in this Invitation to Tender by a single Supplier. Direct Awards will be made based on the information supplied in Applicants’ responses to this Invitation to Tender and from the prices submitted in the price schedule, and will take into account: • The services offered in the Invitation to Tender aligned with the specific requirement • The price(s) quoted in the Price Schedule • Any capacity constraints indicated within the framework tender response. Where a Provider is unable to fulfil the requirement at direct contract award, the next most appropriate Provider will be awarded the contract. In the event of a tie for 4th place, we reserve the right to appoint more than 4 suppliers to the framework agreement.

This procurement will be managed electronically via the Councils e-procurement system. To participate in this procurement, applicants must first be registered on the system at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Home. Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles. Once registered you will be able to see the procurement project under the tenders section and express an interest to view the documentation and access any clarifications. If you encounter any difficulties whilst using the system you can contact the In-tend support team by phoning +44 8442728810 or e-mailing [email protected].

The tender submission deadline has been extended from 11am BST 9th October to 11am BST 19th October, providing an additional ten days for the preparation of bids.

Bidding documents: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-22012 Bidding documents: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-22090 Bidding documents: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-22094