--- title: "Provision of Glow Blogs Services for Education Scotland" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-02a796" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02a796" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02a796.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02a796.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "EDUCATION SCOTLAND" published: "2021-04-19" --- # Provision of Glow Blogs Services for Education Scotland Buyer: EDUCATION SCOTLAND Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-02a796 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02a796) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02a796.json) ## Summary Education Scotland is planning a procurement process for the Provision of Glow Blogs Services, aimed at enhancing the digital learning environment in Scotland. The procurement falls under the education industry category, and a virtual presentation session will be conducted via Microsoft Teams for interested service providers. Interested parties must contact Stephen Phillips by 12:00 on 27 April 2021, with presentations scheduled for 7 and 10 May. This process is fundamental for shaping the procurement strategy, ensuring compliance with Scottish Procurement Regulations when the tender documentation is issued. This tender presents an excellent opportunity for companies specializing in digital education services, particularly those with expertise in WordPress multisite environments and AWS infrastructure management. Potential bidders are encouraged to demonstrate their understanding of educational needs and capabilities in service delivery, as the Glow Blogs service is integral to Scotland’s educational framework. Firms that can offer innovative support solutions or alternative service models, including subscription-based systems, may find this an attractive project to pursue for business growth. ## Notice Provision of Glow Blogs services to Education Scotland ### Lot Information Lot 1 Education Scotland has a requirement to place a contract with an external service provider for ongoing support and development of the Glow Blogs service. Glow is Scotland's national digital environment that offers a number of different services to support learning and teaching across the curriculum. Glow Blogs is a service that is available to all Glow users to allow them to create, manage and host websites. It is currently a fully managed WordPress multisite environment which resides on an AWS infrastructure. There are around 160,000 sites in the environment and an average of 130,000 daily page views. These sites may, for example, be private and used by learners recording their work or be public for schools to share resources. The service offers users a selection of themes and plugins that have educational value and these must be kept up to date and sometimes customised with factors such as safeguarding in mind. The AWS infrastructure has a provided a high level of reliability and was designed to be flexible with features such as auto-scaling used. A high level of reliability and flexibility is required due to ever changing user requirements. This has been evidenced by the move to remote working as a result of COVID-19. The WordPress application provides a selection of themes and plugins that provide functionality based on user requirements. Both the infrastructure and application continue to be improved by taking an Agile approach to development and making changes based on user stories. It is expected that any potential service provider would have sufficient technical knowledge and an understanding of how such a service should be best provided and maintained. It is anticipated that the current offering of Glow Blogs through a WordPress multisite hosted in AWS will continue to be how the service is provided. However, Education Scotland would also consider alternative ways of providing the service, such as a subscription based SaaS model. We would ask that the migration of data is covered in the response if an alternative approach is suggested. Education Scotland would wish to meet with potential bidders in order to seek views and information from the marketplace on the requirement. Details of this process are set out in Section VI.3 - Additional Information. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/008229-2021 | | Notice type | Planning Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | Not specified | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 19 Apr 2021 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 20 May 2021 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | Not specified | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planned | | Lots status | Planned | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | EDUCATION SCOTLAND | | Locality | LIVINGSTON | | Post town | Edinburgh | | Postcode | EH54 6GA | | Country | Scotland | | ITL 1 | TLM Scotland | | ITL 2 | TLM1 East Central Scotland | | ITL 3 | TLM14 West Lothian | | Local authority | West Lothian | | Electoral ward | Livingston South | | Westminster constituency | Livingston | | Delivery location | TLM Scotland | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 80 - Education and training services ### Codes - 80000000 - Education and training services ## Release History - 19 Apr 2021 at 14:45 - Planning - Planning Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/008229-2021 ## Notice URLs - http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/ - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=643446 - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA11402 ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02a796. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02a796.json.