Northern Ireland government fires starting pistol on £80m framework

Suppliers have until 7 June to submit bids for £80m IT services and solutions framework

The Northern Irish government is hunting for suppliers to fulfil an £80m IT services and solutions framework.

In a contract notice published on 24 April, the government's Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs published details of the framework which will seek out suppliers to provide services including application development, technical delivery support, business intelligence, testing and data management.

The framework is set to be broken up into two Lots: Lot 1 for Digital Solutions Development and Lot 2 for Business Intelligence and Data Analytics.

Lot 1 is set to be valued at £70m, with Lot 2 estimated to be worth £10m.

The initial period for the framework is expected to be two years, with extensions of two years and then further three years possible depending on budgets.

Suppliers have until 7 June to submit their bits, with the framework is set to be awarded in August this year.