Govroam
Give staff seamless roaming internet access – across multiple public-sector locations.
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About govroam
In an ever more collaborative public sector, staff need to connect to the internet and to resources at their home organisation, in multiple locations, using any device – whether they’re managers, members of the emergency services, or people in multidisciplinary teams. Govroam can make this happen seamlessly.
Your staff can access the govroam network provided by any participating organisation, using a single, securely-authenticated sign-on managed by your organisation – so they only need to log in once to ‘just connect’.
Meanwhile, visiting staff from other participating organisations can access your govroam-enabled guest network in the same way, using their own sign-on credentials, reducing the time you spend managing guest accounts.
Benefits
- Easy-to-use internet access across multiple sites
Staff using govroam can work more effectively in different locations – because they don’t have to worry about connectivity - Improves the scope of your ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policy
Govroam means your staff and visitors enjoy simplified access to wired or wireless services, using their single authenticated profile on multiple devices - Authenticates users securely
Govroam is supported by a secure authentication process – under the principle of a single, authenticated sign-on, managed by the user’s own organisation - Saves time on guest account management
Using govroam, you can reduce the time staff spend managing guest accounts, because govroam-enabled visitors ‘just connect’ – and are authenticated using credentials issued by their own, trusted organisation - Tried and tested technology
Govroam uses the same technology as eduroam, which has been in place for more than 15 years - Procurement confidence
Govroam is available via the G-Cloud procurement framework, so you can be sure you’re meeting the necessary procurement rules
Watch a report from ITN on the benefits of govroam.
Locations
Start using govroam
If you're interested in using govroam, or have a specific requirement we can help with, email us and we'll contact you to discuss next steps.
Privacy notice
The govroam service does not gather any personal information from end users, but various processes behind the scenes require us to be able to contact the administrators in subscribing organisations.
Their information is needed for us to setup your organisation’s govroam subscription and to access the service. We’ll use it, as described in our standard privacy notice, to provide the service you’ve requested, as well as to identify problems or ways to make the service better.
The contact information for the person or team providing B2B govroam technical support specifically will also be shared with the govroam administrators community when they access the govroam wiki, for the purpose of issue resolution between subscribing organisations.
We’ll keep the information until we are told that you no longer wish to subscribe, at which point it will be removed from both the service and wiki systems.
Email us to start using govroam
Better collaboration – govroam plus eduroam
eduroam offers similar benefits to govroam, but in the education sector. The two networks are kept separate – but there are collaborative benefits to enabling both:
eduroam for the public sector
If you’re in the public sector, enabling eduroam lets you offer seamless, secure internet access to visitors from the education sector, helping you:
- Spend less time on identity management
- Collaborate more easily with research and education
- Keep education users separate from your govroam network
Govroam for HE and FE
If you’re in higher education (HE) or further education (FE), enabling govroam lets you offer seamless internet access to visiting public-sector professionals. This means:
- Emergency services can easily connect to the internet in the event of an emergency on your site
- You can support local community outreach initiatives more easily
Eligibility
Our goal is to make govroam available for all relevant parties, to support productive work and collaboration.
Full details of eligibility for membership and the enrolment process is set out in the govroam service definition. These include:
- An organisation wishing to become a member must either:
- Be more than 50% publicly funded
- Have charitable status
- Be a commercial organisation providing services to a state or public body
- Be a commercial provider acting as an RFO for its govroam customers
Tariff
Govroam is a subscription-supported service. The charges are set at a level to cover the operational costs and development activities only. These are reviewed annually.
| Tier | Definition | One-off boarding charge | charge per month | Charge per year (5% discount, paid in advance) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual organisation (organisation tier) | A category for exceptional cases where it is inappropriate for an organisation to join a regional federation | £1,000 | £300 | £3,420 |
| Regional federation (federation tier) | A group of organisations under a single regional federation operator (RFO); A federation may consist of between two to 25 organisations. Jisc deals directly with the RFO | £3,000 | £700 | £7,980 |
| ‘Super’ regional federation (superfederation tier) | A group of organisations under a single RFO; may consist of 26+ organisations | £5,000 | £3,000 | £34,200 |
| Visited only | An individual organisation wishing to support visited access for govroam members | Free | Free | Free |
Further details of the above charging model are set out in the pricing document (pdf).
See also: the govroam tariff explained (pdf).
G-Cloud
Public sector organisations, including agencies and arm’s length bodies, can use the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace to find people and technology for digital projects. The G-Cloud is a set of simple and legally-compliant frameworks that allow organisations to buy technology products and services more quickly and efficiently than traditional procurement methods.
The OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) tending process takes a long time to complete, requiring two phases: a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) followed by a detailed invitation to tender (ITT). With G-Cloud the PQQ phase is unnecessary as all listed supplies are pre-vetted to ensure compliance.
The frameworks are established through an OJEU under the open procedure and are fully compliant with public contracts regulations. This means that govroam has already been through a rigorous process to ensure its credibility and suitability for the public sector.
Removing the OJEU process results in a far less arduous and expensive process. The e-procurement process eliminates unnecessary activities, allowing you to focus on more valuable tasks.
Applications
Govroam companion app
The ‘govroam companion’ is an app (iOS and Android compatible) that is available free of charge to all users of the govroam service. It’s role is to help users find the nearest available instances of govroam provision, making it easier to remain connected when travelling. By documenting the locations of govroam-enabled guest networks, the app is also a valuable tool in demonstrating the scope of the service.
Download the iOS app (via the App Store).
Download the Android app (via Google Play).
Govroam Configuration Assistance Tool (CAT)
Govroam CAT is a cooperation platform. Local govroam administrators enter their govroam configuration details and, based on them, govroam CAT builds customised installers for a number of popular platforms. End users can access these installers either from the CAT webpage or via a dedicated app.
An installer prepared for one organisation will not work for users of another one, therefore if your organisation is not on the list, you cannot use this system. Please contact your local administrators to discuss adding your organisation configuration to govroam CAT.
Supporting documents
This service is included within the scope of our ISO9001 and ISO27001 certificates.