Scottish public sector mega-framework up for grabs

City of Edinburgh Council on the hunt for supplier of kit worth between £200m and £1bn

An IT deal worth up to £1bn to supply the Scottish public sector with new tech kit is up for grabs.

The City of Edinburgh Council is leading the search for the huge contract, which is set to be worth between £200m and £1bn.

According to the council's ICT Digital Transformation Programme: Our Future ICT Service report, a 10-year contract with incumbent supplier BT is set to end next March, so it is on the hunt for a new partner to supply it with up-to-date kit in line with government digital strategy.

The new supplier will be required to provide the Scottish public sector with a range of IT services and products including Local Area Networks, hosting, tech support, desktop and end-user services, applications, cloud technology, printers and telephones, it said in a recently published tender document.

The council did not disclose how long the new deal is expected to last, but in its Digital Transformation report it outlined further reasons behind the IT overhaul.

"The council currently sources the vast majority of its ICT from one supplier – BT. Since this contract started in 2001, the ICT industry has dramatically changed – [for example] the introduction of cloud computing – and therefore this single-provider approach may no longer be the optimal solution for the council," it said.

"BT were appointed in 2001 as the council contractor for outsourced ICT services, the contract was originally for a period of 10 years which was extended in 2006 for an additional five years. The contract with BT is due to expire on 31 March 2016 and the intention is to re-procure ICT services through a competitive dialogue process."