Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide all the documentation and guidance (or links
directly to it) which would be provided to a school when producing
an "Alternative Business Procurement Case" for ICT services as
opposed to taking on their LEP's proposed ICT managed service, as
mentioned by Jim Knight here:

http://tinyurl.com/bnqmjn

Please specify any supporting documents which would need to be
supplied by the school when submitting the Alternative Business
Procurement Case.

Please also specify any other requirements, such as fixed deadlines
for submitting documentation.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Prince

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0018782
Department for Children Schools and Families
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/index.htm

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Dear Mr Prince,
Thank you for your email of 26 February 2009, requesting information under
the terms of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000, for documentation
and guidance on producing an Alternative Procurement Business Case (APBC)
for ICT services as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
Programme.
You have requested all the documentation and guidance (or links directly
to it) which would be provided to a school when producing an APBC for ICT
services as opposed to taking on their Local Education Partnership's (LEP)
proposed ICT managed service.

You have also requested any supporting documents which would need to be
supplied by the school when submitting the APBC, as well as any other
requirements, such as fixed deadlines for submitting the documentation.

The Department's response is as follows.

I attach the BSF - ICT Alternative Procurement Business Case template.
This must be completed where a school wishes to opt out of the managed
service, as set out by the Local Authority for their BSF programme, and
triggers the requirement for an APBC.

Guidance for schools for producing an APBC for ICT. This sets out the
process for BSF - ICT APBC which will help to ensure that there are not
different levels or incompatible ICT provision across schools in the
authority, and that ICT is employed effectively to transform teaching and
learning.

ICT Output Specification. This sets out the key criteria that should be
used to inform the design and development of the BSF ICT provision. The
specification is divided into four main sections. Section 1 -Design and
Installation Requirements, Section 2 - Transition and Implementation
Requirements Section 3 - Operational Requirements and Section 4 -
Financial and Management

Timescales and Adjudication: The school has 42 days (six weeks), from the
date on which it receives the APBC documentation, to prepare and submit
the business case and appendices. Further details and the process of
submission are outlined in the guidance.

I hope you find this response useful. If you have any queries about this
letter, please do not hesitate to contact me quoting the reference number
below in any future communications.

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request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
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If you would like to take part in this study, please click on the
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If you have filled this survey out before, we invite you to fill it out
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Yours sincerely,

Gursham Singh
SCHOOLS CAPITAL DIVISION
[email address]
[2]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0018782.

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References

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1. http://tinyurl.com/638gru
http://tinyurl.com/638gru
2. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/