Three London councils have moved to create a shared services ICT framework, they are expected to invest as much as £1.1 billion in the new service alongside other councils.

The City of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea will develop the service over a four year period.

The framework was announced through an online tender, seeking suppliers to provide a service desk, designed to enhance the use of data centre services, including computing and infrastructure services.

The tender detailed that: “The successful service provider will need to support the transition of the relevant participating authorities receiving ICT services under that lot to a set of common processes and it may involve the service provider investing in the service delivery”.

The online tender detailed how the move to the shared services framework will deliver: “streamlined ICT services, improved process efficiency and cost-effectiveness, capacity for self-service where appropriate, improved efficient reporting, identified savings and of course quality of service.”

The deadline for businesses to bid for the tender is on the 3rd of May with services needing to be ready to be operational by November 2014.

Six london councils employ shared services to save 18 million