Edinburgh Council Invites Bids for £2bn Worth Of IT Work

City of Edinburgh Council has published a tender calling for suppliers to provide comprehensive ICT services covering councils and NHS boards in Scotland.

Of the country’s 30 councils, 21 will be covered by the contract along with all 14 of its NHS health boards, which administer the delivery of health and social care north of the border.

The proposed work, as detailed in a note in the Official Journal of the European Union, also includes other Scottish public sector bodies, including the Scottish Police Authority, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Natural Heritage, Skills Development Scotland and Visit Scotland.

Sue Bruce, chief executive at the council, claimed: “This is a significant step forward in ensuring that this council is at the forefront of technological innovation in local government. We hope there will be considerable interest in the contract.”

The tender covers a wide range of services including the provision of computer devices, networks, platforms, a data centre, service design and transition, a service desk, third party contract management, applications and security.

The management of contracts with sub-contractors will also be covered. The council has previously said it aims to have at least a quarter of ICT services provided by small to medium sized businesses.

It has said it hopes to cut costs with the new contract, estimating more than £6m a year could be saved from 2016.

It intends to announce the preferred bidder(s) in 2015, who will take over services in 2016 when its current contract (with BT) ends.

The contract would run for a minimum of 7 years, thought the notices says extensions could allow its duration to eventual reach 19. 

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