EU procurement notices point to looking beyond G-Gloud for next stages in transformation
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has set out plans for the next stage in the transformation of its IT estate with procurement notices for desktop and mobile services and software-as-a-service (SaaS).
It has published two EU prior information notices with a total projected value of £215 million, indicating that full tender notices for three-year contracts are to come within a few weeks.
The largest is for a £200 million deal for technical computer support, involving the provision of managed desktop services, extending to mobile devices.
It involves asset management of the relevant hardware and software, including application packaging and deployment, maintaining an anti-virus client and video conferencing equipment, and project work on integrating and supporting a cloud based mail provider.
It also includes an emphasis on a virtual desktop environment which could be used by other departments to access HMRC applications.
The £15 million SaaS contract covers the provision of email, calendar, video conferencing, instant messaging, office productivity and document services, and their integration with Blackberry services. The notice also points to the need for access through HMRC's Windows based desktops.
Publication of the notices suggests there are still significant chunks of central government's IT business to be set up outside the G-Cloud route. HMRC has indicated that the contracts will last for three years each with the possibility of extensions, going beyond the two-year call-off available under G-Cloud.
The department is in the process of taking its IT provision back in-house with the phasing out of the Aspire IT contract with Capgemini, with completion scheduled for next year.
Picture by Paul Clarke, paulclarke.com
