Consortia prepare to do battle for MoD's £4bn IT contract

The £4bn 10-year Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) deal will be the biggest single technology contract in the UK public sector so far.

Over the three-year phased implementation, the contract winner will put in place a consolidated IT infrastructure across all three armed forces, providing a managed service to around 300,000 users in 2000 locations across the world. It will cover permanent military sites, airfield and staging units and well as battlefields, ships and submarines.

The deal was first advertised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in April and last week saw the announcement of the main bid teams.

Computing talked to the leaders of the four main consortia to find out what their strengths are and what the challenges will be.

IBM

Technology giant IBM is leading a consortium with defence supplier BAE Systems and French IT services company Steria.

The group's pitch focuses on partnership.

'This project is not just big, it requires a mix of skills,' said IBM DII team programme director Roger Wyn-Jones.

'It needs a world-class IT management capability and specialist domain knowledge in some unique MoD areas, and these considerations have driven us to this team. The MoD is looking for a commercial approach that is open and inclusive - they want the team to work well together and work well with them - so we have focused our approach on meeting that need for a partnering approach,' he said.

Because of the length of the contract, the successful consortium will need to be able to take advantage of developing technologies.

'An important requirement is making sure the technology solutions help the MoD stay future proof. IBM specifically is aiming to contribute the world-class IT management capability we have. We are used to assignments of this scale and can deploy that experience to reduce the cost of ownership for the MoD,' he said.

Steria and BAE Systems will contribute much-needed sector-specific experience.

'The big focus at this stage is to put together the right mix of capabilities including a practical on-the-ground understanding of what is going on out there already,' said Wyn-Jones.

EDS

Services company EDS is leading a consortium with Fujitsu Services as its main partner. Other members of the group are due to be announced next week.

Partnership and shared risk is also top of the EDS agenda, says director of strategic business development Peter Appleby.

'Our approach has been to get the right balance of experience, strength and depth to give the MoD the confidence that there's no single point of failure.

'Although we expect to contract with the MoD through a single entity, none of our consortium members have a disproportionate work share or revenue compared to the others, which also supports our commitment to no single point of failure,' he said.

Using a range of suppliers will be a key part of the consortium's plan.

'We feel it is very important to maintain the diversity of suppliers and we intend to use a number of other suppliers to ensure the MoD has access to best of class technologies and specialist services,' said Appleby.

A key success factor for the programme will be the free flow of information, he says.

'The way we are going about it this is to provide end-to-end connectivity from the back-office business space right out to the battle space where appropriate,' he said.

'The aim is to ensure that information that is pertinent to civil servants or military staff in the UK is also available, as necessary, at the front line.'

Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

IT services supplier CSC is leading a consortium made up of BT, consultancy Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Anglo-French defence company Thales.

'It will be crucial to deliver a successful business programme, not just an IT service,' said CSC director of defence business Rick Drury.

'Our consortium brings together proven programme management skills, financial strength and more than 30,000 relevant staff,' he said.

The key word in the CSC group's bid is access.

'That means access to applications and to information, and the need to make that access available across all users and all internal structures. For example, in Iraq it was very clear we needed timely intelligence on what happening and an efficient flow of information to decision makers, to decide what going to happen and then deliver the weapons quickly,' said Drury.

He also emphasised the need for close relationships with the defence community.

'It's about building partnerships - both with the users either in the business space or the deployed space, and also with people who provide the service.

'The thing that will make this deal a success is building a partnership with the MoD that makes sure we have a shared stake in its success, and shared business models so we can adapt to changes in the MoD over the 10-year life of the programme,' said Drury.

Lockheed Martin

Defence supplier Lockheed Martin UK (LMUK) has joined up with system suppliers HP and Unisys, defence technology specialist Qinetiq, security experts SAIC, and consultants Deloitte Consulting.

The partnering approach is also central to the LMUK team's agenda, says managing director of mission systems Mike Hardgrave.

'Our tagline is "partnering for service agility" because we believe success will rely on achieving partnership between delivery partners and the MoD,' he said.

'Close partnership and commercial transparency will help the MoD understand what is happening within their delivery partner, because without that understanding it's more difficult to make fast changes to the delivery model in line with the military's operational requirements.'

A key element of the team's bid will be a focus on flexibility.

'We have focused on technology and service innovation because if you know what's coming technically then you can build that into the solution in advance,' said Hardgrave.

The biggest challenge will be building a coherent infrastructure from the existing fragmented approach.

'There is a three year period to take all the different pieces currently in place and create a single infrastructure, ensuring continuity of service during the migration,' said Hardgrave.

'That is big challenge, not least because it will be a foundation extended into the battle space and used for developments such as ebusiness, smarter procurement, and egovernment requirements.'