Cardiff Council looks for IT partner in £150m deal

Cardiff wants to transform public services

Cardiff City Council is looking for a technology vendor to help improve the way it delivers public services in a contract expected to be worth £150m over 15 years.

The local authority wants to reduce IT spend, further integrate its systems and improve information sharing between siloed departments.

"Working with a partner or a consortium with a lead partner we are aiming to reshape services around the citizens and communities that use them," says a tender notice published by the council this week.

Cardiff hopes that the partnership will also lead to potential commercial opportunities.

"This exploitation may include establishing a corporate vehicle jointly between the council and the partner or some other vehicle which delivers benefit to both parties," says the tender document.

The chosen supplier will be expected to "build upon the council’s technical capability to provide increased capacity, knowledge and innovation to deliver the development and greater integration of systems and technology infrastructure."

Large local authorities are increasingly turning to long-term partnerships with IT service providers to overhaul the way technology supports their public service delivery.

Liverpool City Council set up a joint venture with BT in 2001 called Liverpool Direct in a 10-year contract worth £300m, which was extended to 2017 last year for an additional £325m.

Birmingham City Council established a similar arrangement with Capita in 2006 worth £475m over 10 years.