Tiny Brit tech firms win spots on £1.84B public sector contract. Kidding, it's the usual suspects
- Reference: 1681288328
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/12/uk_public_sector_framework_deal/
- Source link:
Winners among the 81 companies awarded places on framework agreement include Accenture, Atos IT Services, Capita Business Services, HCL Technologies, IBM, Softcat, and Palantir.
The new framework agreement replaces the Data and Application Solutions agreement, which is set to end May 22. The agreement is set to run until September 2025. Framework agreements pre-negotiate terms and prices with suppliers, but do not guarantee the value of work they will win, although the idea is they ease the procurement process and get better prices for the public purse.
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Crown Commercial Service (CCS), the commercial division of the Cabinet Office, has launched the new contract so central government departments and other public sector bodies such as local authorities, health, police, fire and rescue, and educational organizations can make use of it.
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The framework is divided into five lots, with not every supplier winning places. These span business application solutions; education, community health and social care solutions; housing, environment and planning solutions; citizen services; and systems designed for emergency services.
[3]UK govt adds £4B to value of delayed tech procurement
[4]UK consortium set to bid for £480 million NHS data platform
[5]BAE Systems handed £38m Border Force intelligence contract
[6]UK health department contracts 'critical friend' for £480m data platform
The CCS launched the procurement in January 2022, when it said it was looking for suppliers to provide software for vertical applications such as those "developed to meet the needs of their particular industry."
It is among several mega-deals struck between the UK government and the tech industry in recent years. These include an [7]estimated £1.2 billion for enterprise software , including but not limited to ERP, human capital management, and financial accounting. Other deals include £2 billion to "offer a central route to market for all [8]Big Data & Analytics requirements ."
In March last year, the government went out to tender for cloud services in a framework deal which [9]could be worth up to £5 billion . Research later showed the UK government had spent £11.5 billion through its [10]G-cloud service over the last decade . ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZDaBQ5OFTbN@kEvruduOpQAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDaBQ5OFTbN@kEvruduOpQAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/13/uk_12b_tech_procurement/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/28/nhs_fdp_consortium_bid/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/16/bae_systems_get_38_million/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/nhs_fdp_qi_consulting/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/uk_government_awards_a_gaggle/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/03/big_data_tender_two_billion/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/09/5bn_uk_g_cloud_deals/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/23/115_billion_spend_via_uk_g_cloud/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Weird, there isn't Fujitsu in that list
Goverments ...
... are the very last organizations that should be using public cloud. As you scale, the benefits of outsourcing diminish, especially of central functions. The fact that cloud providers are so anxious to onboard government organizations, healthcare and big manufacturing should already tell us that these are the very last organizations to benefit from going cloudy. The users who can really benefit from the cloud, from mom&pop shops to SMEs (especially those with bursty IT demands) are, of course, due to their lower and hopefully more efficient use of cloudy resources, the least appealing customers from the provider's perspective.
A particular problem with Cloud, as opposed to regular outsourcing, is just how difficult it can be to change provider. Regular outsourcing of, e.g., printing, component manufacturing or patient services, can at least be put back out to tender (or, gasp, brought back in house) when the existing provider becomes less competitive. Even the ridiculous UK habit of selling government buildings then leasing them back from the private companies who have bought them looks sensible compared to going "all in" with a particular cloud provider - especially because, as we all know, the chances of this cloud being architected and designed well enough to be moved to another cloud or brought back on premise are minimal. Even in the unlikely event the design permits it, the likelihood is that the bean-counters have probably missed the bean labelled "data egress charges"
It’s a cult, stupid
Welcome to the world