Industry news

Plans to outsource the maintenance of Ministry of Defence sites have been revealed by defence secretary Philip Hammond.

The contracts to run the administration function of military bases across the UK are valued at £400 million over a ten year period.

Capita will lead a consortium of private sector firms in running the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), which manages MoD sites and covers 1.1 per cent of Britain’s land mass, with 230,000 acres of land with a workforce of just 2,500.

The move to privatise the functions of the DIO comes as the government seeks promote cost savings within the MoD as armed forces return from Afghanistan.

Andy Parker, Capita chief executive, said: “The partnership will help to unlock the knowledge, skills and resources that already exist within the DIO, while adding capability to tackle the significant cost-saving targets currently facing the MoD.”

MoD recruitment system behind schedule

Opposition call for parliamentary review into MoD outsourcing

A block on the selection of a provider for a £325 million contract for telecoms services to the Scottish public sector has been lifted by a Judge.

The challenge by BT was overturned by the Court of Session, with NHS National Services Scotland now free to select their preferred provider for the delivery of the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN).

BT had taken NHS National Services Scotland to court, claiming that its failure to be selected as a contract provider had been a due to a faulty tendering process and that the procurement competition should be re-run.

The Lord Malcolm however acknowledged that there had been failures in transparency, and that BT would be: “entitled to pursue a damages claim which, in comparison with some, will not be unduly complicated or difficult.”

NHS National Services Scotland said: "We are pleased that we are now able to proceed with the contract award and get moving with the implementation of the Scottish Wide Area Network.”

A BT spokesman said: “We are pleased that Lord Malcolm found in our favour with respect to the primary argument and agreed that the procurement regulations had been breached by NHS National Services Scotland."

Capita awarded £110 million NHS Scotland contract

NHS Scotland moves forward with preferred bidder nomination

Capita has been selected by Hampshire County Council to deliver IT services aimed at children after it remained the sole contract bidder according to the award notice.

The contract itself has an initial five year lifecycle with options for extension and covers schools and child council services, with Capita delivering software, migration and support services.

By improving the sharing of data and joining IT systems the council expects to improve efficiencies and increase costs savings.

Councillor Keith Mans, Hampshire County Council's Executive Lead Member for Children's Services, said: "We expect to roll out the programme to staff from August this year, while ensuring that our work is uninterrupted as the new systems are put in place, which is likely to take place over a number of years."

Capita looks forward to increased business

Capita post 14% profit rise

The Department of Work and Pensions is in the process of consulting the market regarding a two year contract to provide hosting services.

The contract is believed to be worth between 29.5 million and £120 million and is set to replace and exiting deal with HP.

HP currently manages two data centres, 3,000 physical servers, 465 virtual servers and 1,000 terabytes of storage space.

Selected bidders will be tasked with providing value for money, service transformation and developing increased flexibility.

The service itself is likely to be made up of multiple contracts, in keeping with the department’s policy of encouraging SME participation and cost effectiveness.

The NHS has moved to outsource a wide range of front-line services valued at £1.2 billion, placing services including end-of-life care and cancer treatment up for long term tender.

The outsourced services are due to start in the July of next year and will be focused across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, including services at hospitals, hospices and home care.

The move to privatise NHS services represents one of the largest and wide-ranging outsourcing programmes in the UK care sector.

The move comes as the NHS seeks to reduce a £30 billion shortfall over the next seven years, with many trusts seeing little alternative to achieving savings other than the privatisation of services.

The success of the outsourced program Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent is likely to be closely watched by other trusts and as a blueprint for future NHS privatisation programs.

Delay to NHS patient data sharing scheme

NHS Scotland moves forward with preferred bidder nomination

The Bank of Ireland has selected Accenture to provide technology outsourcing service, focusing on future capabilities and increased competitiveness.

The contract will see Accenture provide a range of new services and products to the bank. The contract is expected to affect 200 staff currently employed by the bank, with available options including redeployment, employment with Accenture or voluntary severance.

The outsourcing group has worked with the Bank of Ireland before, helping the institution move to into the new European payment s area.

Bank of Ireland ditches HP for IBM

Belfast City Council has suspended plans to move forward with the outsourcing of leisure centre services, instead giving trade unions time to explore the possibility of in-house management.

Trade unions have been given £10,000 in funding to explore the feasibility of in-house management, with the funding being used to hire specialist advisers and modernise services.

Trade unions had protested the original plans, which would have seen the transfer of 300 staff to the selected outsourcing provider, as part of an outsourcing program designed to achieve public sector savings following public sector cuts.

Bumper Graham, of trade union Nipsa, said: “We accept a need to modernise, but there is no need to create a new model. This could affect a significant number of staff.”

Belfast City Council votes to outsource leisure centre services

The Bank of England (BoE) has announced plans to improve software services and the collection of data from UK insurance firms, with a £1.2 million investment.

The investment will be spent on tendering for two systems, delivered over a three-year contract worth between£800,000 and £1.2 million. One system will provide data collection services, gathering compliance data, the other system will process and validate data for use in other systems.

In a notice to tender the BoE specified that the contract should cover: “a variety of data from external entities securely, via a user interface and a business to business interface, and secure user management capabilities”.

Both systems will have to be capable of handling large amounts of data, with expectations of large data amounts of between 10GB and 200GB each month, from the 500 insurance firms that the BoE currently services.

BoE announces efficiency drive

Bank of England reports improving economic forecast

Small hi-tech specialists Buddi has criticised the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) after the government has announced that it will restart the procurement process for a GPS tagging scheme.

Buddi had been selected as the preferred bidder by the MoJ, but the department has move to restart the procurement process, claiming that Buddi had failed to show that it could supply the technology within the necessary time-frame.

Sara Murray, co-founder of Buddi said that the relationship with the MoJ has been a: “unproductive and frustrating relationship" and that the government has asked for a product that” does not yet exist”.

The tender will now be offered again under a accelerated process to original bidders 3M and Steatite.

The MoJ released a statement saying: "We have been unable to agree on certain technical and commercial aspects of the contract with Buddi to provide tags. We have therefore decided to re-compete this element of the contract to ensure we deliver an efficient service that represents best value for hardworking taxpayers while protecting the public.

While the MoJ claimed that the move would not result in new delays, which is currently 14 months behind schedule, Ms Murray said that the move would ensure that the project would not be delivered by the end of the year.

MoJ signs data centre deal with Ark

Move to digital-by-default for legal aid delayed

The Government has outlined plans for a move to select a private sector partner to provide debt management services to public sector departments.

The tender notice calls for a supplier with a proven track record in “reliable, high quality and innovative retail debt management services at scale”.

The private sector partner would assist the government in creating a new company, known as the 'Debt Market Integrator' (DMI). The DMI would start out as a public sector organisation before becoming a company which has a private sector majority ownership with a minority public sector stake.

The initial department customers of DMI will be HMRC, DWP, SLC, LAA, DVLA and the Home Office, with debt services being extended to other public sector services at a later point.

HMRC announces specialist recruitment drive

HMRC tenders for supplier for fraud prevention and credit check role