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Becta

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Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) is an agency of Department for Education and Skills in the UK. In its capacity it oversees the procurement of all information and communications technology (ICT) equipment and e-learning strategy for schools. It was founded in 1998.

Policy

According to their website, Becta's objectives are "to influence strategic direction and development of national education policy to best take advantage of technology" and "to develop a national digital infrastructure and resources strategy leading to greater national coherence.

More concrete information was revealed by the Chairman of the Board, Andrew Pinder, in a seminar in October 2006 where he deplored the "hopeless disorganization" and "extraordinary fragmented" supply side in the educational sector, and added:

Critical Parliamentary Early Day Motion

On 21 November 2006 John Pugh MP sponsored a Parliamentary Early Day Motion, now signed by 130 MPs:

Within two days Becta rejected the criticism, stating that:

However, Crispin Weston, an advisor to Becta, pointed out that:

(See Learning services framework agreement)

In an article in January 2007 John Pugh added:

(See Becta and open source)

Management

Board of Directors
Andrew Pinder, Chairman, appointed January 2006
John Roberts, formerly chairman of the board, also was chief executive of Royal Mail Group, from 1995 to 2002, including its time when it was rebranded as Consignia.
Stephen Gill, also Vice President of Hewlett Packard UK
Ralph Tabberer (DfES Assessor)
Anthony Lilley, also Chief Executive of Magic Lantern Productions, an interactive media production company specialising in content for broadband and multiplatform media.
Graham BadmanSenior management team
Stephen Crowne, Chief Executive, appointed 12 June 2006
Niel McLean, Executive Director, Institutional Development, joined 1998
Dr Stephen Lucey, Executive Director, Infrastructure, joined May 2000
Tony Richardson, Executive Director, E-strategy, joined February 2006
Dr Peter Avis, Director, Board and Corporate Affairs, joined 1998
Alan Cowie, Executive Director , Business Delivery and Organisational Development
Pat Hunt, Director Corporate Services, joined 1998, promoted February 2004
Vanessa Pittard, Director, Evidence and Evaluation, joined May 2004
David Hassell, Director, Content, 1998
Ian Adams, Executive Director, Partnerships, Commissioning, Marketing and Communications, February 2007
Jane Williams, Executive Director, Further Education, Skills and Regeneration,

Procurement Framework Contracts

Becta administers the procurement of ICT equipment for schools using framework agreements, which last for four years and have been deemed legal under European law.

The result of these agreements is that educational institutions in the UK intending to purchase goods and services relating to ICT, including system design, hardware and software provision, training, implementation and ongoing technical support, where the budget would breach the procurement threshold (of about £100k) can save the hassle by procuring from a company on a Becta maintained list.

The listed companies are also deemed to comply with the appropriate technical standards as well as Becta's | Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS)

While schools and Local Education Authorities are not legally obliged to purchase from the listed suppliers, these two factors create an enormous pressure for them to do so. The effect is to create a closed market. If, for example, none of these suppliers are willing to provide Open Source Software to run servers and networks, then such products will not be found in schools, whether or not that was the intended consequence. (See Becta and open source)

Learning Platform Services Framework agreement

Becta’s Learning Platforms Services Framework offers a list of approved suppliers to provide best-value learning platforms for schools. The Learning Platforms Services Framework runs from January 2007 to December 2009.

On 24 February 2006, Becta dispatched a contract notice for this four year framework agreement of unspecified value to deliver various "Learning Services" such as Virtual learning environments and other ICT products. Participating companies had to have a net worth of at least £700k to qualify and satisfy a list of functional requirements. The window for tenders closed on 30 March 2006 and the 10 suppliers chosen from 119 applicants announced on 22 December 2006 were:

When challenged in an interview on the question of why none of these suppliers made available the open source platform Moodle, Stephen Lucey said:

In 5 January 2007, Crispin Weston, who had helped Becta draw up the criteria used to select suppliers, asked the EC Competition Commission to investigate his allegation that a significant number of the successful tenders had failed to implement the mandatory functional requirements, including particular aspects of inter-operability. He also added in his letter to the Commission that they should take action on the further issue of:

Gerard Toplass of Azzurri Education said they had invested £250k (and six programmers working 15 hours a day for six months) into Becta's stringent testing regime. He also expected learning platforms to be sold separately in all but those schools that are being built from scratch.

Infrastructure Services Framework agreement

Becta’s Infrastructure Services Framework lets schools purchase infrastructure services which comply with national standards and specifications for educational ICT. The Infrastructure Services Framework runs from August 2006 to July 2009.

On 23 November 2005, Becta dispatched a contract notice for this framework agreement in the Official Journal of the European Union of unspecified value to deliver computer hardware and networks to capable of running high speed access and a common systems framework to schools. On 8 August 2006 the contracts were officially awarded, though the publication of the announcement was not until 27 September.

The 16 successful companies were:

Azzurri Communications Ltd, Centerprise International Ltd, Computer Systems in Education Ltd, Egton Medical Information Systems Ltd, Ergo Computing UK Ltd, European Electronique Ltd, Gaia Technologies Plc, HBS Business Services Group Ltd, Linetex Computers Ltd, Northgate Information Solutions Ltd, Ramesys, Research Machines, Serco, Stone Computers Ltd, VT Four S Ltd, XMA Limited

Each company must be capable of providing the entire infrastructure for an entire school alone as part of the deal; there is no room for specialist suppliers for, say, just the computer mice.

Though Becta claims to have negotiated purchase prices which mean "it will be harder to get it cheaper anywhere else", Becta reveals no pricing guidelines. Instead, schools are supposed to write a specification and run a mini-competition like an auction among those of the sixteen suppliers who express an interest in order to determine the price. This work itself can be contracted out by schools as well after a mini-competition among listed consultancy suppliers. (see Consultancy services framework agreement)

Once the contractor is chosen, a Service Order is signed between the two parties specifying the services that are being provided, and the prices. Becta should receive quarterly management reports from the companies operating under the regime detailing what Service Orders have been signed, and the full accounts.

Consultancy Services Framework agreement

The Consultancy Services Framework is designed for schools to engage with high-calibre consultants at competitive rates. Consultancy can be used to develop and achieve a school’s vision for ICT. The Consultancy Services Framework began in January 2006 and continues until December 2008.

On 21 December 2005, this framework agreement was announced allowing schools to hire "external consultants to take responsibility for the often time consuming and costly decisions around developing an ICT infrastructure" which is due to last until 2008.

The 21 winning consultancy contractors are: 3E's Enterprise, Brian Farrington, Cambridge Education, Deloitte MCS Ltd, Educational ICT Services Ltd, Edunova (WSP Building Ltd), Enterprise MCP Ltd, Four S, Hornagold & Hills, Improcom, Logica CMG UK Ltd, Mantix, Mason Communications Ltd, Mouchel Parkman Services, NCC Services, Novatia, PricewaterhouseCooper Ltd Liability Partnership, Research Machines, Serco, Socitm Ltd, Tribal Group

Becta recognizes that the overlap between these companies who may be managing the procurement on behalf of the schools, and the companies who would eventually be bidding to supply the contracts, could result in conflicts of interest. To overcome this, Becta allows a company to "withdraw from the process once the specification for the ICT infrastructure [which they have written] is defined" before competing for the provision of the infrastructure.

Laptops for Teachers

(40 suppliers.)

A three year "Laptops for teachers" framework agreement ran from 2003 to 2006.

Becta claims on its website that the advantages of their regime were the extended warranties, and savings of £45 million. The actual number of laptops in total, and from each supplier, as well as their costs are not revealed.

Interactive whiteboards framework

(23 suppliers) This framework agreement ran from 2004 to January 2007 and is now closed.

Non-curriculum Software framework

(14 suppliers, but the software is split into seven categories and, for example, only six suppliers are approved for graphics and publishing).

The Software Licensing Framework has been set up to provide a range of software products and value-added services specifically for education.

This three-year EU-compliant framework agreement runs from April 2005 to March 2008.

Internet Services Accreditation

(10 suppliers)

The Internet Services Accreditation was set up as a result of an initiative from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to provide guidance on this subject. The service enables schools to purchase internet services from accredited suppliers that meet and maintain specific standards in content filtering and service performance.

Planned frameworks

In addition to the existing frameworks, Becta has one more in the pipeline.

Management information systems

A consultation on the functional requirements for information management (including MIS) closed on 30th September 2006. Over the consultation period of two months there were eleven comments submitted.

The functional requirements for information management was published on 9th October 2006.

Self-review framework

The self-review framework is a free, online tool created by Becta and its partners that schools can use to assess and benchmark their use of ICT across all their activities.

It enables schools to identify where they are and shows the practical steps they can take to gain even greater benefit from their use of ICT.

In many areas, it complements the work schools currently undertake for Ofsted and can be provided as evidence for a school’s Self Evaluation Framework (SEF).

The self-review framework offers schools a route to achieving the ICT Mark, which is a nationally recognised accreditation scheme which gives schools recognition for their achievements in reaching a standard of maturity in their use of technology.

Curriculum Online

Procurement of curriculum software is available to schools via Curriculum Online, in which there are huge numbers of suppliers. This is not a framework in the same model of the others. Curriculum Online is due to end in August 2008.

Becta and open source

In May 2005 Becta published a report of eight case studies where Open Source software was deployed in Schools on servers and in the classroom, often mixed with Microsoft products. The conclusions were positive and the considerable savings in cost were noted.

In spite of this experience, Becta's infrastructure framework for suppliers to schools outlined above has been accused of excluding open source systems by its choice of companies.

The current chairman of Becta holds the view that "open source is [no] different from any other software -- it's just the pricing structure is different, that's all. But [its supporters] have a passion. It's a religion, it's a real belief."

Becta has not named any tender for a major framework contract who has been successful in offering open source products as part of their package.

Interoperability

A long predicted issue has arisen over the ability of the proprietary software supplied with the many Interactive Whiteboard systems to inter-operate. In a press release, Becta states:
To tackle this problem Becta has appointed Research Machines to develop a common industry-wide standard that will bring huge benefits to schools, allowing the exchange of resources within and between schools.

The aim of this development is to provide the industry with an interoperability standard, followed by demonstration of support for the format with the production of an open-source file viewer. Becta will support the development of the specification and, by devising the interoperability file format to support certain agreed file features common to interactive whiteboards, work to obtain whiteboard vendors commitment to support the standard.

Criticisms

In January 2008, Becta was accused of excessive political correctness when it eliminated a children's interactive CD-ROM story book called The Three Little Cowboy Builders (based on Three Little Pigs) from an educational awards ceremony on the grounds that it could be considered offensive to builders and Muslims. Becta subsequently claimed that they had rejected the story because it "failed to reach the required standard across a number of criteria" and was "not sufficiently convincing on curriculum and innovation grounds to be shortlisted", although Curriculum Online (another website run by Becta) had previously given the book an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

References

See also

External links



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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 04:43:45 PDT (GMT -0700)
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