HM Treasury looks to open up to SMBs

Government department intends to split existing outsourced Fujitsu contract into much smaller chunks when it expires in 2015

HM Treasury is seeking to make good on the government's pledge to involve more SMBs in its procurement process as the department plans to break its single-supplier outsourcing deal into much smaller chunks.

HM Treasury has worked with Fujitsu as its sole provider of ICT services since inking a big-ticket deal with the Japanese giant in 2009. But according to an OJEU notice published this week, the department wants "to ensure alignment with the current direction of government ICT to encourage SME participation and to deliver efficiencies in its supply chain".

When the Fujitsu deal expires in January 2015, the intention is "break up this single provider arrangement into a number of discrete contracts". A new technology programme, dubbed ICT 2015, will cover the provision of services to about 1,200 staff in central London, as well as 35 in Norwich and a business continuity site based in the capital.

"All future services should be fully scalable as it is possible that other government delivery organisations could be on-boarded over time and the size of the Treasury will change," adds the OJEU notice. The department will be running a number of events and other exercises over the next few months to allow potential suppliers to offer their thoughts.

"We intend to test with the market both our proposed operating model and the individual requirements and contracts," states the notice. "The objective of this exercise is to seek feedback on our proposals and to test the ability of the market to respond."

In common with seemingly every other government in recent memory, the coalition has made frequent noises about wanting to open up supply-chain opportunities to smaller players. Earlier this week a report was published outlining the government's intent to push half of all new IT spending through SMBs.