LGfL agrees network framework

The first phase of the agreement will connect up to 2,800 schools across the capital to voice and data services. As part of a second phase, organisations linked to the London public services network (LondonPSN) can purchase services using the framework. They will be London local authorities, possibly followed by police, health and emergency services. The first schools will be connected in April 2011 and LGfL, a consortium of all 33 London councils, expects all sites to be connected by June 2012. Primary schools will have access to 10Mbps links for less than the price they now pay for a five megabit link, and secondary schools will pay less than a third of the price for the 100Mbps service they currently receive. The framework replaces a 10 year network contract between LGfL and Synetrix, which is now part of Capita. This existing contract is not due to end until June 2012. At a press conference at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts to announce the contract, Brian Durrant, chief executive of LGfL, said the transition to a new supplier will take about a year, so the procurement needed to be rapid. LGfL decided not to proceed with its own tendering process and became the first organisation to use a framework with 17 network providers set up by the higher education network organisation, Janet. "I am actually quite proud to tell you that the LGfL board made a decision at a meeting at the end of September 2010 to expose these services to competition and to do so using the Janet framework," said Durrant. "The board met again in November to approve the award of approved bidder status to Virgin Media Business. So the use of the framework saved us an enormous amount of time." In terms of the framework being extended across the wider public sector, Durrant said the procurement was carried out by the LGfL Trust, a collective of London councils with a legal exemption to procure on behalf of other public sector organisations, who do not then need to re-compete to buy from the LGfL. Virgin's broadband network is used largely by individual consumers rather than organisations, resulting in its network capacity being underused during the daytime. A company spokesperson said that the contract with LGfL is a major business opportunity. It has put the value at £200m, if frameworks are taken up across the wider public sector.