Rm Regulatory News (RM.)

24 Feb 2009 07:00

24 February 2009

RM awarded £6.6m BSF contract extension by Lambeth Council

RM has been awarded a contract extension by the London Borough of Lambeth to deliver ICT services for phase 2 of the Borough's BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme. RM was awarded a £5m contract to provide ICT for phase 1 of Lambeth's BSF programme in August 2007. The contract extension, which is expected to be worth £6.6m over five years, covers six schools. 

The combination of phases 1 & 2 of Lambeth's BSF programme and the pre-existing Lambeth Connected Learning Project PFI project, means that RM will now be providing an innovative ICT managed service to all secondary schools in the Borough.

The managed ICT service includes in-school ICT infrastructure and networking, RM's Kaleidos learning platform, a centrally-hosted data centre and VOIP telephony. RM will also provide education consultancy services, including training and continuous professional development. 

Terry Sweeney, Chief Executive of RM, said:

"Since August 2007, when we were appointed for phase 1 of Lambeth's BSF programme, we have been working hard with the Council to make innovative ICT services available to the Borough's schools. It is great to see the quality of that work recognised by the award of this contract extension - and it is exciting now to be given the opportunity to work with all of Lambeth's secondary schools."

Mike Pocock, Project Director of London Borough of Lambeth's BSF programme, said: 

"Lambeth and RM have a long and positive relationship - we've worked together on the Lambeth Connected Learning Programme PFI project, and on the first phase of our BSF programme. On each of these projects, we have been impressed with the educational effectiveness of RM's ICT services. We now look forward to extending RM's high quality ICT Managed service to almost all of the Borough's Secondary Schools. We expect the managed service to continue to evolve to meet the needs of our students and teachers."

Tim Byles. Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools - the government agency responsible for delivery of the national BSF programme - said: 

"Building Schools for the Future is about providing each and every young person with access to state-of-the-art learning environments - and ICT plays a crucial role in this. The contract extension means that all of Lambeth's secondary schools will be part of the area-wide ICT Managed Service enabling equity of access to ICT infrastructure and services across the borough."

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Notes:

Founded in 1973, the RM Group is a leading provider of educational products and services to schools, colleges and universities, local government and central government education departments and agencies. RM works closely with educationalists to create new products, processes and technology which improve teaching and learning. RM is listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol RM.L, ISIN GB0002870417. 

BSF (Building Schools for the Future) is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. BSF will provide world-class teaching and learning environments for all pupils, teachers and communities in England. A key part of the initiative is to ensure that local authorities develop a sustainable, area-wide ICT strategy for schools in line with the Government's personalised learning agenda: 10% of the funding is ring-fenced for ICT. 

RM was appointed to deliver the eight-year, £18m Lambeth Connected Learning Project PFI programme in February 2005.