Kent county council seeks £80m software deal

Kent county council has tendered for a framework contract for computer software packages, including services for corporate and academic purposes, worth between £50m and £80m. It issued the tender on behalf of the Pro5 group, which brings together five of England's large public sector professional buying organisations. The group's members are are Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation, Central Buying Consortium, North Eastern Purchasing Organisation, West Mercia Supplies and Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation. A notice in the Official Journal of the European Union says that the framework will include software package suites and information systems as well as virus protection, educational and administration software. The contract will be divided into four lots, with lot one for Microsoft products and software, and lot two focusing on security software. Lot three will deal with commercial off-the-shelf items, while lot four is for educational software. According to the notice the educational software is to support the curriculum in primary and secondary schools. "Pro5 have also considered the specific needs of young children and with this in mind we have acknowledged (by means of this framework) that integrating ICT into early years is important for teaching," it adds. This article is published by Guardian Professional. For weekly updates on news, debate and best practice on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.