IT Hardware for Schools

Preliminary Market Engagement is being undertaken to inform and refine the DfE’s requirements as it considers the potential for the establishment of a route to market for schools to procure classroom and user IT hardware under the Procurement Act 2023. This engagement is intended to support the development of a solution that is deliverable, value for money, and responsive to the needs of the education sector, while encouraging innovation and effective competition within the supplier market. Through this Pre-Market Engagement, the Department seeks to gain a clearer understanding of current market capability, capacity and commercial models, including how suppliers structure pricing, logistics, support and sustainability across a large and diverse customer base. Market engagement will help test assumptions, explore potential delivery and commercial options, identify risks and barriers to entry, and assess how a future procurement could be designed to remain accessible to organisations of different sizes, including SMEs and VCSEs. This engagement complements and builds on insights already gathered from engagement with schools and the wider education sector. Feedback from schools highlighted variations in technical and procurement capability, and the importance of affordability, clarity and simplicity when purchasing hardware including greater transparency of costs over the lifecycle of a device. Market engagement is therefore being used alongside school insights to ensure that any future solution is informed by both user need and market capability, and can support consistent access to suitable, cost effective and sustainable technology across the school system. Please note that although DfE has answered 'no' to the question "Is a framework being established?" this is not yet decided, and the answer to this question may be affected by the discussions that take place during market engagement.