Council hunts suppliers for IT framework whopper

Kent County Council looks to managed services to save cash

Five IT suppliers are being hunted by the largest county council in England to provide a range of managed services on a big framework worth up to £500m.

Kent County Council - which claims to be the largest geographically in England - is looking to outsource day-to-day management of a range of processes to third parties to "improve business processes and cut operating costs".

According to a contract notice, the Managed Services for Business Solutions deal will be worth up to £500m.

The authority is looking to procure the services on behalf of itself as well as Hertfordshire County Council, Hampshire County Council, and Commercial Services - a trading organisation based in Kent.

The scope of the framework includes, but is not limited to, software, hardware, digital mailroom, pay automation, document-workflow management, data security, data-loss prevention systems, customer communication management systems and IP networking services.