SA Dept of Education seeks AV and multimedia suppliers for its schools

The South Australian Department for Education has gone to market to establish a panel of audio-visual (AV) and multimedia suppliers for its schools, in an expression of interest (EOI) that would give more than 900 schools a pre-approved list to buy from.

The department operates over schools across metropolitan and rural South Australia - including Kangaroo Island and the APY Lands - and says they are increasingly reliant on ICT multimedia to deliver accessible learning.

Until now, it says, each school has approached the market with its own requirements as it saw fit; the panel is intended to guarantee a minimum level of service and price while keeping procurement from becoming onerous.

The model is two-stage. This EOI forms the panel, assessing suppliers on overall capability and capacity, the geographic areas they can service, sustainability, a generic pricing and discount structure, insurances and risk - including cybersecurity.

Once the panel is in place, individual schools will run their own secondary procurements (requests for quote) focused on specific pricing and a supplier’s ability to deliver a particular project. The department does not guarantee minimum volumes, noting usage is at each school’s discretion, but all 900-plus schools will be able to access the panel.

In scope is a broad sweep of AV and multimedia, to be supplied as integrated solutions.

These include display and presentation technologies such as interactive panels and TVs, projectors and screen-sharing; collaboration and communications tools including wireless casting, web cameras and video conferencing; audio systems covering classroom audio and hearing augmentation, public address and school bell systems; and specialist and large-scale installations spanning digital signage with a content management system, indoor and outdoor LED displays and sporting scoreboards.

Integrated teaching stations and lecterns, lighting, and end-to-end installation and support services are also included.

The department expressly rules out network hardware and management, PCs and servers (covered by a separate whole-of-government panel), printing, and telecommunications and unified communications.

The department is asking tenderers to indicate delivery times across the Adelaide metropolitan area, inner rural zones (the Fleurieu, Adelaide Hills, Barossa and Copper Coast) and greater rural South Australia.

System design and installation should be undertaken by specialist AV integrators, with power, data and cabling professionally concealed, integrated with each site’s structured cabling, and aligned to the school’s network architecture, cybersecurity requirements and any AV network or VLAN arrangements.

Any software needed to run equipment must have its hosting location declared and meet SA Government and Department for Education cybersecurity requirements.

The department sets a minimum three-year warranty on all goods and installation works, reserving the right to have persistently faulty items replaced within that period, and makes servicing and ongoing support - including user training, operational handover and fault response - a mandatory part of any supply.

Suppliers must maintain a contact manager and help desk, and sustainability is named a “key value driver,” with the department inviting measures to cut e-waste and packaging and to handle end-of-life disposal. Performance will be measured on delivery, cost, sustainability and customer service. 

For the EOI stage, tenderers are asked to provide their current standard list pricing - with installation, support and training costs listed separately - and to nominate a standard discount that will apply when they compete in schools’ secondary procurements.

The EOI closes at 2pm on 10 November 2026.