Jobs transfer opens up IT opportunities

Government plans to decentralise civil service over next six years

Resellers outside the London area could be in for a public sector windfall, as the government plans a radical shake-up of the civil service that will move 20,000 jobs away from the capital. Chancellor Gordon Brown confirmed that the relocation of staff would form a central part of his plan to reduce government spending on administration. "For all departments making future job decisions, our policy will be a presumption in favour of location in the regions," Brown told Parliament last week. The government plans to transfer the jobs away from London and the south-east over the next six years, with at least half of them moving by 2007-08. The transfer to large regional centres could provide a business boost for resellers, as the incoming civil servants increase IT demand in the area. Kelvin Brain, consulting director at VAR Compusys, said that as the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is encouraging public-sector contracts to be awarded locally, resellers should look for opportunities to win business associated with the move. "We've applied for tenders in the past knowing that they are dependent on geographic position. Where we have regional offices, we get additional credit for being local," he told CRN. Martin Prescott, managing director of reseller Big Red Computers, said the large number of staff moving to different parts of the UK would make the size of IT contracts ideally suited to the channel. But he added: "The contractual arrangements for selling into the public sector are so complex, many resellers will be put off." Prescott said the government needed to make it easier for smaller firms to win public-sector business; otherwise it risked being tied into protracted procurement cycles which would not deliver the best deal or value for money. [email protected]