Environment Agency tenders for green IT partner

The Environment Agency is on the lookout for a new, eco-friendly IT services partner to strike a deal worth up to £700 million over a possible 10 year tenure.

The public body is accepting tender submissions until 14 January, after which it hopes to hand over the reins to a primer contractor or consortium of suppliers to run and maintain its applications, network services and distributed computing infrastructure, ensuring in-house resources can turn their attention to more value-added, strategic and business-driven IT activities.

Once signed, the partnership will last at least seven years with a minimum value of £300 million, with the option to extend the deal for up to a decade if required.

"As a fast-changing organisation that is responding to the threat of climate change, we need the very best, innovative Information Technology (IT) services to help us," said Paul Leinster, director of operations at the Environment Agency.

"Our IT services need to help us face the increasing future demands of our organisation. Although our IT supports us well now, we need more flexible and adaptable systems that will allow future development. We're looking to work with a partner who can step up to this challenge, ensuring this is the most environmentally sustainable government IT contract ever."

As part of the outsourcing agreement, which is part of the Environment Agency's five-year 'More, Better, Faster' IT project, some 170 tech staff will transfer over to the employ of the new partner.

"This will be the single biggest contract let to one company in our current portfolio," Leinster concluded. "IT has a crucial role to play in helping the Environment Agency meets its challenging targets and deliver more for the environment."

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