One of the biggest school management information system (MIS) providers has launched a multi-million-pound legal fight against a leading rival, following a government attempt to end the company’s “litigiousness”.
Two years ago, United Learning Trust lost a high court battle with tech company Bromcom, after a judge ruled the business should have won a £2 million MIS contract with the academy chain.
Now, Bromcom has told rival Arbor Education – which secured the deal – to cough up £4 million, accusing it of making “material misrepresentations” over its finances that prevented it “from being automatically disqualified” during the procurement process.
James Weatherill, the chief executive of Arbor, denied the allegations, adding: “Schools should not have to fear being sued by their software supplier. We look forward to being vindicated in court.”
Ministers handed United Learning £1 million to challenge Bromcom in a bid to protect the wider academy sector, claiming the company had “a history of litigiousness”, trust correspondence with the government said.
In court documents, Bromcom claimed Arbor would have either “ceased to trade” or not been able to secure 26 subsequent contracts across 543 schools if it did not win the United Learning contract.
Big change in £200m MIS world
Bromcom said it “would have secured all or some” of these deals – which is the basis of its claim. Weatherill stated his company is “profitable” and has “a multiple of the capital required to cover the case”.
Ali Guryel, Bromcom’s managing director, said “Arbor’s actions not only unfairly disadvantaged” his firm during the “tender process, but also undermined the principles of fair competition and transparency in public procurement”.
“This legal action seeks to address this and ensure that such practices are not repeated in the future for the good of education market.”
It comes amid seismic change in the MIS world, worth about £200 million.
The market share for SIMS – which has long dominated the sector – has shrunk since the emergence of cloud-based providers, falling to 44 per cent last year, analysis by the Bring More Data blog shows.
Arbor’s share stood at 30 per cent, with Bromcom’s at 11 per cent.
Bromcom has already been involved in other legal cases. About 11 years ago it took high court action against Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire councils.
In September, Lift Schools, previously called Academies Enterprise Trust, settled its three-year legal battle with the company. The dispute centred on the chain’s decision to award a £2 million contract to Arbor.
