Tories urge cabinet secretary not to sign more IT contracts

Tories have urged cabinet secretary not to sign more IT deals before the election

The Conservatives have urged the cabinet secretary, Gus O’Donnell, to ensure that no more big IT contracts are signed in the run-up to the general election.

This follows big deals made in recent weeks by the Department for Work and Pensions including the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority awarding a contract likely to be worth £600m to TCS for the National Employment Savings Trust; a new government pensions scheme; and a deal struck with Fujitsu last month for desktop services.

The government IT procurement partner Buying Solutions has also signed a £4.5bn desktop deal with Fujitsu, Atos Origin and HP for the provision of IT services across several government departments.

Ministers at the Department of Health are also looking to complete negotiations on NHS IT supplier contracts that it argues will save the government £600m in the long run.

A report in the Financial Times today also speculates that the Ministry of Defence is about to sign a contract for logistics software worth about £1bn, and that the Serious and Organised Crime Agency is close to completing an £800m deal for communications equipment and services.

In an extract of a letter from shadow cabinet office minister Francis Maude to O’Donnell, also published in the FT, Maude said: “As you know, we have said that an incoming Conservative government would impose an immediate mortatorium on ongoing ICT procurements so they can be reviewed in the light of the continuing fiscal crisis. This includes contacts for telecommunications services.”