The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is offering contracts worth a total of 3 billion for new IT.
The department will be looking to fill five contracts over a seven-year period, to cover datacentre and hosting, voice and data networks, application maintenance and support, integration services and desktops.
The DWP said it will also be looking for application development services, but the cost of that is not yet known. Media reports suggest it could be worth some 1.5 billion.
The first contract, for desktops, will run from 2010 to 2015, picking up from deals with EDS and BT which are set to end then.
The department's chief information officer, Joe Harley, said: "We are reviewing our future plans for our major IT service contracts as our principal existing contracts expire during 2010-11. We are committed to ensuring that future IT services continue to be provided in a way which delivers the best service to the citizen and maximum value for the taxpayer."
He added: "To ensure this, we will be managing a series of competitions to replace existing contracts progressively by 2015. These will be conducted in accordance with public procurement regulations. The first of these is the contract to provide desktop services across the Department."
The details of the desktop contract will be advertised in the European Journal, the DWP said.
