HMRC to splash out £215m on cloud and end-user services

HMRC is looking for a SaaS-based office productivity solution

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has revealed details for two contracts it is looking to outsource - one for maintenance and support services for end-user devices and another for an integrated cloud solution, with a combined estimated value of £215m.

The first, worth an estimated £200m, is for the supply and maintenance of end-user devices, apps, software and virtual desktop technology. The tender covers the build and deployment of end-user systems, including mobile devices, and the management of associated vendors.

"This contract covers a range of commodity services such as management and support of end-user devices, application packaging and deployment, IMACD, administrative infrastructure, remote access, application performance monitoring and virtual desktops, but also includes some requirements bespoke to HMRC," says the tender notice.

The contract will run for an initial three-year period from March 2017, with an opportunity to extend for two further 12-month periods.

Eight suppliers are anticipated to be invited to engage with the tender process, and bidders have until 25 May to express an interest to participate.

Further information will be included in the full tender, which will be posted at a later time.

HMRC has also issued a pre-tender notice for a three-year software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based office productivity solution.

"The service [will be] accessed from our Windows-based desktop estate with 87,000 devices and 75,700 users in approximately 250 locations," the notice states.

HMRC said that it was considering undergoing a "wholesale transition" to cloud-based collaborative solutions in the future.

"Transitioning to a cloud-based solution is expected to yield material commercial benefits, the adoption of which will simplify the existing desktop environment. It is also expected to transform working practices helping to improve current processes," the pre-tender notice reads.

The cloud-based solution is expected to include calendar, email, document sharing, storage and editing, audio and video conferencing, instant messaging and integration with BlackBerry services.

A contract notice is expected to be published on 25 May.