The Metropolitan Police Authority has signed a series of framework contracts with 17 major IT suppliers, which could exceed 200 million over four years.
The development services framework (DSF) covers five areas of procurement for the Met's IT services department, the Directorate of Information (DoI): ICT development lifecycle, business change, technical consultancy and application development, technical solutions providers, and ICT research and development.
The DoI expects spending for those five areas for the next four years to be about 214 million.
The panel of 17 suppliers - which includes Atos Origin, BT Capgemini, Fujitsu Services, Lockheed Martin, LogicaCMG and Serco - will be the first route of procurement for IT services. If a project or department cannot find a suitable supplier from the panel, they can choose from suppliers chosen by the Office of Government Commerce or put out a new tender.
The original tender for the DSF garnered some 200 expressions of interest, with 48 of those firms asked to tender for the 17 final spots in the framework, said Caroline Pocklington, senior project manager for the DoI.
"With such a wide response, we couldn't take everyone on board. But it's good to see the market so healthy, and to see so many people doing good work," she said.
Any firms who weren't successful - or indeed, who didn't apply - can still win any contracts with the Met which are advertised. While the eventual tender winners were overwhelmingly large corporations, Pocklington said the response from small and medium enterprises was encouraging.
"We had a healthy response from SMEs," said Pocklington. "A number were invited to tender. There's an onus on government agencies to encourage SMEs."
The DoI picked suppliers based on value, experience and their ability to handle complex projects, Pocklington said.
