Councils seek £34m ICT services

Councils seek £34m ICT services

Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation issues local government tenders for telephony, broadband and ICT support services

The Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation has issued tenders worth a total of up to £34m on behalf of Warwickshire county and Cambridge city councils.

A notice in the Official Journal of the European Union says that Warwickshire county council wants to set up a two-year framework for a "competitive telephone call charging service via least cost routing solutions, line rental to include analogue, ISDN and SIP and broadband".

Although the framework will be used initially by Warwickshire, it is open to other public sector bodies, including schools and emergency services.

The range of potential take-up is reflected in the estimated values of between £8m and £14m.

Cambridge is looking for a comprehensive support service for its operational ICT, including a helpdesk service, server, network, telephony and desktop support. It also intends that project management consultancy will be included in the deal.

The contract will be signed initially for five years, but this could be extended for a further five year term. The value, which starts at an estimated £13m and extends to £20m, reflects the possible time frame of the engagement.