An invitation to tender for the e-books for FE Project was issued through OJEU, reference OJEU 2008/S 192-253910.
JISC Collections hosted a briefing event to discuss the ITT and the e-books for FE project. The minutes from the event and subsequent questions and answers can be found here.
Proposals in response to the invitation to tender were evaluated in four stages:
Stage 1 evaluations, December 2008
The e-books for FE project board read received proposals and eliminated proposals, which did not meet the evaluation criteria as set out in the invitation to tender.
Technical Advisory evaluation
In addition the proposals were marked by a technical advisory board for compliance with tender criteria and relevant information and accessibility standards.
Community Consultation, January 2009
The JISC further education community was asked to prioritize the shortlisted e-books through a consultation.
Final evaluation, February 2009
The e-books for FE project board endorsed the final list of e-books to be centrally funded using the results of the community consultation.
The Project Board endorsed the proposal that the e-books platform, the Core Collection of e-books and the collection of e-books of relevance to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales is procured from ebrary. ebrary were able to supply the highest proportion of e-books, highly ranked in the community consultation.