I have recently read an eye-opening email from Ian Lynch about what happened in the UK with BECTA. I have received his permission to republish here his thoughts. I think his email speaks volumes about what happened.

Ian Lynch’s email

Fundamentally, I’m not complaining that we were not successful in the tender - I have no idea how strong the winning bid was. I’m complaining that the tender process adopted was broken. This is despite the fact that 130 MPs signed an Early Day Motion in Parliament last year censuring BECTA for procurement frameworks that block out Open Source.

* The tender was not fit for purpose.

Evidence: The tender document was not written specifically for this project. It made references to a research project which were indicated to be irrelevant in the e-mail feedback to questions. It is clear that the document was a hurried adaption of another tender document originated in 2005.

The mark scheme is generic and does not adequately reflect the title of the project. It’s quite possible to arrive at combinations of marks that produce anomalous results in relation to the project title. eg Winning the tender with no experience in either schools or open source.

Rest Here