UK government agrees new three-year deal with Microsoft

Organisations to get discounts and beneficial terms for Microsoft services

The UK government has signed a new three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft to give the public sector specialist discounts for the vendor's services.

The Digital Transformation Arrangement 2021 (DTA21) will see eligible organisations granted access to discounts and beneficial terms for Microsoft 365, Azure as well as associated support and consulting services, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform cloud services.

Starting on 1 May, it will renew the existing MOU and will run until April 2024.

"This new agreement with Microsoft builds on the government's One Government Cloud Strategy, which supports the key principle of treating government as one single customer," Gareth Rhys Williams, the government's chief commercial officer said.

"It shows the government's determination to drive transformation as well as adopt value for money technologies that improve services and ensure government departments and their staff have the digital tools they need, now and in the future."

The DTA21 MOU covers products such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 E5 Security and Compliance, Phone System Calling Plans, Dynamics 365, PowerApps, Azure Cognitive Services and AI, Azure Analytics, Azure Synapse and Azure Arc.

It includes offers for both Premier and Unified Support services for new customers and the opportunity for eligible public sector organisations to access free implementation resources, including solution assessments and training courses for public sector staff.

Chris Perkins, general manager of Public Sector Sales at Microsoft UK, said: "The DTA21 MOU has been substantially expanded to cater for public sector organisations large and small, regardless of where they are on their cloud journey.

"Microsoft is committed to working with the government to help support modern hybrid working and help drive the move to digital with Microsoft 365 and Azure."

"The addition of Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to the DTA21 line-up can now also help with agile, low-cost, low-code application development, which has been so critical in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic."