Town halls seek MS licence deal

Talks have started on a huge Microsoft licensing deal to cover local and central government and police forces.

The National Enterprise Agreement would be similar to the deal signed with NHS last week.

It is a response to fears about the cost of complying with Microsoft's much-criticised licence reforms.

The Society of IT Management (Socitm), the Association of Chief Police Officers and Office of Government Commerce (OGC) are now discussing a proposal from the software giant and will move on to detailed negotiations.

'We are in discussion with Microsoft and the OGC to come up with a similar arrangement to the NHS, covering local government and central government,' said Bob Griffith, national secretary of Socitm.

'It's at a fairly early stage at the moment but we hope something would come out of it in the next six-to-eight weeks. We are looking for is the best deal for our members.'

Umbrella buying agreements already exist, but Socitm is keen to make sure any agreement takes into account changes to technology and the increasing use of IT by the public sector.

The NHS licensing agreement announced last week gives it access to the latest versions of Microsoft software, and replaces the 35,000 separate deals currently in place. The NHS estimates it will save £50 million over three years.

The deal would cover products including Office, Windows desktop upgrades, and a Core Client Access License, which would include Access licenses for Windows, Exchange, Systems Management Software and Share Point Portal Server.

Microsoft told Computing it is in discussion with some government departments over licensing but would not comment further.