DWP tenders for £275m application maintenance contracts

Software must be transferable to other parts of government

DWP is one of the biggest IT estates in Europe

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is seeking to award five contracts for application development and maintenance worth up to £275m.

The DWP groups its IT into separate “towers” comprising: desktop PC services; hosting services; application maintenance; and a fourth integration layer to link the pieces together.

Currently all the contracts are with EDS. The hosting contract has been renewed but the bidding process is underway for desktop services and now application maintenance.

The application maintenance work is being split into five lots.

"A key element of the IS/IT service architecture is the provision of an application deployment service which involves the provision of feasibility, prototyping, design, development, integration, build, test, implementation, maintenance and management of applications, provision of technical consulting, support, and continuing development and enhancement of application functionality to support evolving business requirements," says the contract notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Each service provider will be expected to take advantage of the development of common services, making effective use of integration technologies, " commercial off-the-shelf" packages and existing systems.

Each lot comprises the provision of services for an initial period of seven years but with options to extend for further periods of up to three additional years.

It is expected that lead suppliers will commence take-on of application deployment services from the date of contract award via a phased transition process.

A key requirement is that all applications are capable of re-use and int egration within the wider DWP service as well as other government departments, in accordance with the Cabinet Office Transformational Government Strategy.

Service providers are also expected to have an appropriately robust supply chain of varied general and specialist suppliers that can be engaged to deliver the full range of DWP requirements and be committed to maintaining an active engagement of smaller suppliers.