Five year contract will involve upgrade and rationalisation of force's app estate
IT applications at the Metropolitan Police service are to come under the management of professional services giant Accenture, following a deal between the company and London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime.
They have hooked up in a five year contract understood to have an initial value of £40 million, with options to extend for another three years in one-year increments, taking the possible maximum towards £86 million.
Accenture said it will help the Met Police step up its use of digital technologies, in areas including mobile and analytics solutions, and encourage more digital interaction between the force and citizens.
A spokesperson said the initial priority will be to deal with an ageing collection of applications, looking at improving those that can be, rationalising the size of the estate and introducing new ones where necessary.
The work will be delivered from the Accenture Delivery Centre in Newcastle, which is part of the company's Global Delivery Network, and from a location in London. Approximately 60 new technology roles will be created in Newcastle as a result.
Innovation expectation
Chris Naylor, digital policing lead at the Met Police, said. “Accenture has strong industry experience and recognises the importance of collaboration and cross-supplier integration to help deliver next generation police services. We look forward to working closely with Accenture in managing our applications and introducing new, innovative solutions.”
Georgina O'Toole of IT analyst firm TechMarketView pointed out that this is another piece in the “integrated multi-supplier delivery model” under the forces Total Technology Programme – Infrastructure. It follows contracts with Atos for Service Integration and Management and CSC for Computing and Hosting.
This is the third big policing deal for the company in the UK. In July 2014 it won a five year, £25 million contract with West Midlands Police to design a new operating model and provide project management, business changes and systems integration services.
It also has a deal with Police Scotland for the development of the i6 operational policing system that has attracted criticisms in the Scottish Parliament for delays in its delivery.
Image from Metropolitan Police Service
