Management & Running of Schools Buying Hubs Regional Pilot

The Invitation to Tender was for the procurement of the North West and South West Schools' Buying Hubs (Hubs). It is the Department's intention to establish a national network of School Buying Service Providers, beginning with a pilot phase.

The Department is Piloting the Schools' Buying Hub concept in two regions of England (North West and South West) with the potential to roll out more hubs nationality if it proves successful.

The Service Provider will act as a trusted support to schools in the North West region. This support will include:

• Advice and guidance - to reduce spend across all categories of spend • Complex contracts support • Local and Regional aggregation to reduce spend on complex areas such as Learning resources (excluding ICT equipment), ICT learning resources and Administrative supplies.

The Hubs will offer services to all state 5-16 year schools in their region.

The Service Provider will also need to provide the following secondary services (including but not limited to): • a customer relationship management Solution (CRM) and underpinning technologies • a programme for ensuring high levels of registration with and uptake of the Hubs service • Multichannel contact centre systems and functionality including web-based and telephony support, social media (where appropriate), and delivery of targeted communications; • access to specialist procurement advisors