I don't think there is anything wrong with DBG doing its own bid, it
would just be useful to know who is likely to submit a bid. And who are
potential partners.

So far OSS Watch have declared they will bid on a non-advocacy ticket.

Richard, as Chair of SF-UK do you propose a SF-UK bid? What about M6-IT?

We could do a TLM bid and I know Axiomtec are interested but probably my
preferred route would be to partner TLM and INGOTs with SF-UK and other
education focused private sector companies (Including CICs like M6). A
genuine public/private/third sector consortium bid I think would be
politically attractive.

Basically such a bid would focus on SF-UK and its web site with a
community manager and say bounties or competitions with prizes to
incentivise schools to contribute open source resources and learning
content. My first thoughts are to concentrate on Web based resources to
support primary schools. (This would solve a lot of technical support
issues and make migration from proprietary to FOSS easier) This would be
complemented by resources such as a free open source managed learning
platform (Moodle) and Web 2.0 community environment (Drupal) from the
INGOT web site that is supervised and teaches learners how to use social
networking safely as well as FOSS apps. All contributes to the
e-strategy. We already have 20,000 + learners on the certification site
and about 2000 actively using Blogs etc and it's all on free software/CC
licensed content. We could move or link the resources section from there
to the SF-UK site. In terms of educating people about FOSS, we already
have QCA accredited certificates to do just that and we also support
staff development with links to the Teacher Learning Academy of the
General Teaching Council. We can put out tenders to the OSC companies on
behalf of schools that want to install FOSS infrastructure and provide
consultancy on development planning to move progressively to FOSS from
current circumstances. The publicity from the BECTA involvement is
probably as valuable in getting confidence and the message out as the
money. If as a result we make more money from services to schools and eg
INGOT academies we'll be able to develop more resources for the web
sites so BECTA (tax payer) gets value added beyond the original
investment and we demonstrate sustainability fo when the finance comes
to an end.

Ian
--
New QCA Accredited IT Qualifications
www.theINGOTs.org