The Northern Ireland Education Authority has added another year to its long running Education Network contract with Capita.
The agreement for a range of computer and related services – including the supply of hardware, software and consultancy – has been in place since 2012 with a number of extensions, and has now been extended with a further anticipated spend of £33 million, taking the total to £546 million.
It has been awarded without a call for competition due to the dependence on exclusive rights including those for intellectual property.
“The modification will facilitate the continuation of the existing managed service arrangements, functionality changes to effectively meet schools’ requirements and permit transition to a new contract,” the award notice says.
It adds that the systems and services have been uniquely configured to meet the education authority’s requirements, and that a change of contractor could create significant inconvenience and duplication of costs. But the reference to a future transition suggests that there could be a new contract in the future.
