MoJ embarks on major prison service tech upgrade

National Offender Management Service deal covers desktops, networks, telephony and applications

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is set to embark on a £300m IT transition programme at its National Offender Management Service (NOMS), intended to provide continuity of service as it migrates to a more wide-ranging reorganisation of how IT services are delivered.

Currently, the MoJ runs scores of end-to-end contracts, overseen by various lines of business. It intends to move to a so-called service tower model, with separate contracts for service integration, end-user computing, networks, hosting and application maintenance and development. This project is known as Future ICT Sourcing (Fits).

However, before those contracts are awarded, the MoJ has begun a project to reshape IT delivery within NOMS.

The three-year contract at NOMS, which is responsible for 50,000 staff at over 130 prisons, will include provision of desktop, network, telephony and application services.

Prospective suppliers will be expected to standardise their services around the MoJ’s ITIL-based practices, while any aspects of the service that would be delivered via a cloud model will need to comply with the MoJ’s security standards.

The MoJ has been under pressure to conduct a wide-ranging review of IT provision since the National Audit Office complained that its multiple data systems were undermining management’s ability to monitor spending.

The Fits project is following the lead of the Department for Work and Pensions, organising IT outsourcing contracts into specific functional towers. The MoJ expects the Fits contracts to be awarded some time in 2013, with transition scheduled to be complete by 2015.