The Department for Constitutional Affairs is set to replace its main IT contracts covering key projects in the modernisation of the criminal justice system, it has emerged.
The department is planning to issue a tender notice in the spring for the new contracts forming a programme which could be worth up to £1bn, Government Computing News was told on 19 January.
The contracts will replace those covering key IT projects such as the Libra Magistrates' Courts scheme, the Court Service infrastructure and the DCA's own systems.
Libra, which has already undergone major project restructuring following delays, has three contractors: STL, Accenture and Fujitsu. Under the new programme, these suppliers could be replaced in order to better integrate with other criminal justice systems.
The procurement process for the new programme, known as DISC (Development, Innovation and Support Contracts), is scheduled to begin by the beginning of April 2005 and will be split into three main contracts.
The two biggest contracts will be for infrastructure and applications, and a smaller contract will cover outsourced services such as finance and human resources. Existing contracts covering the Magistrates' Court Service and the department's systems are all due to expire between September 2006 and October 2008.
It is possible that current IT suppliers such as EDS, Fujitsu, Accenture and Liberata could be replaced by just two prime contractors, although the DCA expects these companies to bid for the new programme.
Alicia O'Neill, DISC programme manager at the DCA, said: "The core contracts all expire during an 18 month window which is the period when we'd hand over to the new DISC suppliers," she said. "In this respect we're looking to follow a similar model to Aspire at the Inland Revenue, for example."
The eventual contracts are likely to be worth £100m a year and are planned to last "approximately eight to 10 years", said O'Neill. The contract award is scheduled for Spring 2006.
