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In short: A school, academy trust or college can buy IT support from any supplier. The value of the whole contract decides the process: under £10,000 buy directly, £10,000 to £40,000 collect at least three quotes, over £40,000 advertise and run a competition, and above the Procurement Act threshold run a formal procedure. A DfE-approved framework is a fifth route that lets a buyer skip the competition. It is never a requirement, and we are not currently on one. Whatever band you are in, we provide the paperwork for it.
- You want to take a Systech quote to the head or the finance committee and need to know you are allowed to
- Your procurement policy says three quotes and you are not sure whether IT support counts
- You are a trust and one school's contract may push the total over a band
- Somebody has told you that suppliers have to be on a framework
Deals in education rarely die on price. They die when the business manager assumes a framework is required, or cannot get the supplier's paperwork in time for the committee, and the renewal with the incumbent goes through by default.
The four bands, and what we provide at each
These are the DfE's own buying routes for schools. The value is the whole contract over its term, not the monthly fee.
| Contract value | What you have to do | What we give you |
|---|---|---|
| Under £10,000 | Buy directly, or from a catalogue. | A written quote in whatever format your finance team uses, with our certificates attached. |
| £10,000 to £40,000 | Get at least three written quotes and record why you chose one. | A quote pack: the price, what is included, our certificates, insurance evidence, safeguarding and data protection policies, and two references. Most single-school managed contracts sit here. |
| Over £40,000, below the public threshold | Advertise the requirement and run your own competition, usually a short written tender. | A full tender response to your specification, in your template, by your deadline. Trust-wide and college contracts usually sit here. |
| Above the Procurement Act threshold | A formal procedure under the Procurement Act 2023, published on Find a Tender. | A compliant bid. The threshold for goods and services is a little over £200,000 including VAT and is reset every two years, so check the current figure. |
The £10,000 and £40,000 figures are DfE guidance. Academy trusts set their own limits in their procurement policy, and maintained schools follow their local authority scheme, which can be lower. Ask for the policy before pricing; it tells us which pack to prepare.
Why the contract term decides the band
Take a 60-user primary school on our published entry price of £40 per user per month, which is £2,400 a month. The same service lands in different bands depending only on the term.
| Initial term | Contract value | Buying route |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | £28,800 | three quotes |
| 24 months | £57,600 | advertise and compete |
| 36 months | £86,400 | advertise and compete |
- A shorter initial term with an option to renew is a legitimate choice, and it keeps a first contract with a new supplier low-risk for you too.
- Splitting one requirement into several contracts to stay under a band is not allowed, and we will not help structure it that way.
- Above the public threshold, count VAT. The bands below it are guidance, so check whether your own policy counts it.
What we hand over, and what we do not claim
Everything below exists today and can be sent the same day. Nothing is listed that we cannot produce.
- ISO 27001 information security and ISO 9001 quality management, certified by NDC Certification Services.
- Cyber Essentials, with a certificate you can verify on the public register.
- Public and employer's liability and professional indemnity insurance certificates.
- Data protection policy and processing terms, safeguarding and DBS policy for anyone attending site, and a Modern Slavery statement.
- Filed accounts for financial standing, and two references.
- ISO 42001, the AI management standard, is in progress and is described that way until it is awarded.
The full list, with who certified what, is on our certifications page. We hold Cyber Essentials rather than Cyber Essentials Plus; if your policy requires Plus of a supplier, tell us and we will say plainly whether that changes the answer.
Frameworks, stated plainly
We are not currently on a DfE-approved framework, and applications are in progress. A framework is one of the five routes, and it exists to let a buyer award without running a competition. If your trust policy prefers a framework direct award and one of the framework suppliers fits, that may genuinely be the quicker route for you, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
For everything else, the three-quotes route and an advertised competition are open to any supplier, and both are how most schools already buy.
When not to buy from us
- You have fewer than around 50 devices and a capable technician on site. Our entry point will not save you money.
- Your trust has standardised on a national provider and the contract is not up for review. Wait for the review.
- Your policy mandates a framework direct award and you have no appetite to run three quotes. We are not the quick option today.
- You need a filtering and monitoring product supplied and managed end to end. We integrate and evidence filtering; we do not sell it.
Where to start
The DfE digital and technology standards are what most schools are being measured against now, and our guide to the standards is the place to understand what you are buying towards. The free baseline assessment is the first-quote conversation: sixty minutes, a governor-ready position, and a dated plan for each gap, with the findings yours either way. The wider sector picture is on our education page, and the published price is on the pricing page.
Frequently asked
Can a school buy IT support from a company that is not on a DfE-approved framework?
Yes. The DfE describes five buying routes for schools, and a framework is one of them, not a precondition for the other four. Under £10,000 a school can buy directly. Between £10,000 and £40,000 it should get at least three written quotes. Over £40,000 it advertises and runs its own competition, and above the Procurement Act threshold it runs a formal procedure. A supplier that is not on a framework can be one of the three quotes, can respond to an advertised competition, and can bid in a formal procedure. What the school cannot do is award directly at any value without a competition unless it uses a framework.
Is the value band based on the monthly fee or the whole contract?
The whole contract over its full term, including any extension options, and for goods and services the Procurement Act threshold is measured including VAT. A managed IT contract of £2,400 a month is £28,800 over one year, £57,600 over two and £86,400 over three, so the same service can sit in the three-quotes band or the advertise band depending only on the term you choose. Splitting one requirement into several smaller contracts to stay under a band is not permitted, but choosing a shorter initial term with the option to renew is a legitimate decision that many schools make for exactly this reason.
Do academy trusts have different rules from maintained schools?
The public thresholds are the same, but the internal ones differ. Academy trusts must have a procurement and tendering policy under the Academy Trust Handbook and set their own limits inside it, commonly a written-quotes band from a few thousand pounds and a formal tender band somewhere between £25,000 and £50,000. Maintained schools follow their local authority's scheme for financing schools, which sets its own limits and can be lower. Ask for the policy before you price anything, because it tells you which process you are actually in and how many quotes the buyer has to collect.
What documents will a school ask a supplier for?
In practice the same set every time: proof of information security and quality certification, a current Cyber Essentials certificate, public and employer's liability and professional indemnity insurance certificates, a data protection policy and processing terms, safeguarding and DBS policies for anyone attending site, a Modern Slavery statement, financial standing evidence such as filed accounts, and two references. Having that pack ready to send the same day is usually the difference between being one of three quotes and being the one that gets signed, because it removes the work the business manager was dreading.
Know which band you are in before you ask for a price
Tell us the user count and the term you have in mind and we will tell you which route you are in, what your finance team will need, and send the pack that goes with it.