Leeds Contract Award

30 May 2007 14:17

RM PLC30 May 2007 30 May 2007 RM confirms Leeds City Council Building Schools for the Future ICT Contract RM confirms that it has reached contractual agreement with Leeds City Counciland been appointed as Strategic ICT Partner for the Council's Building Schoolsfor the Future (BSF) programme. RM previously announced that it had beenselected as preferred bidder for this contract on 7 November 2006. Under the terms of the contract, RM will design, implement and deliver asophisticated managed ICT service, including PC networks in each of the schoolslinked through a central data centre. As well as ICT infrastructure, RM willprovide other services, including strategic ICT development advice and anaccredited continuing professional development programme, to Education Leeds,which provides Leeds City Council's frontline education service. Leeds City Council's Wave 1 BSF programme covers fourteen schools divided intothree phases. The expected contract value for the first phase of the programme,which includes six schools to be delivered from 2008, is £15m. Over all threephases of the programme, RM anticipates the contract will be worth in excess of£25m. Commenting on the contract confirmation, Tim Pearson, CEO of RM, said: "The BSF programme will reinvigorate education by providing learning spaces thatare fit for the 21st Century. Educationally effective ICT - serving pupils,teachers and parents & carers - is an essential part of those learning spaces. "I'm proud that Leeds has chosen RM to work with and I'm pleased that we'vereached contractual close. Now we can get on with the really important work,which is working with Leeds City Council to deliver the educational benefitsthat ICT can undoubtedly bring." For further information, please contact:Mike Greig/Phil Hemmings, RM plc 08450 700300Mark Antelme, Brunswick 020 7404 5959 Notes to Editors: Founded in 1973, the RM Group is a leading provider of educational products andservices to schools, colleges and universities, local government and centralgovernment education departments and agencies. RM works closely witheducationalists to create new products, processes and technology which improveteaching and learning. RM is listed on the main market of the London StockExchange under the symbol RM.L. Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is a £45 billion Department for Educationand Skills initiative that will rebuild or substantially refurbish all Englishsecondary schools over the next 10-15 years. A key part of the initiative is toensure that schools develop a sustainable ICT strategy focused on improvingteaching and learning. Partnerships for Schools, the government agencyresponsible for delivering the BSF programme, has set a budget of £1,450 perpupil (over five years) for the delivery of managed ICT services in BSF schools. RM has been chosen as supplier for five BSF projects so far - Knowsley, Lambeth,Leeds, Solihull and Stoke-on-Trent. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange