Mancunian comms reseller 4net wins three-year deal

Credit: Tumisu/Pixabay

The Ministry of Justice has awarded a multimillion-pound deal for the provision of telephony services and a range of software products to the UK’s growing network of Courts and Tribunals Service Centres (CTSCs).

CTSCs – the first two of which opened this year in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham – provide a centralised source of support services for legal professionals and members of the public involved in court cases across the county. The third service centre is due to open in Loughborough next year.

Between them, the three sites will house 1,000 employees providing digital and telephone support for primarily “digital cases” in a number of areas of the justice system, including probate, benefits, and divorce proceedings.

Mancunian firm 4net Technologies has been awarded a £16.4m three-year deal to equip the network of CTSCs with an underlying “technology solution”. 

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The contract award notice contains sparse detail beyond this, but PublicTechnology understands the company has been contracted to offer core telephony services, in addition to a range of software including storage and data management, as well as HR programs. 4net will also provide speech-analytics tools, it is understood.

The firm’s contract with the MoJ came into effect last week and is due to run for 36 months until 2022. 

Headquartered in Manchester and with satellite offices in London and Burton, 4net provides cloud services, as well as offering telecoms equipment and connections from a number of vendors – chiefly Avaya, but also Microsoft, Cisco, BT, and Gamma Telecom.

The company has a strong focus on the public sector, and some hefty contract wins – including a £6.5m deal to provide the Cabinet Office with telephony until 2021 – have helped it grow rapidly in recent years. Its most recent accounts show net profit of £776,000 on turnover of £24.3m for the 15-month period to 30 June 2018.

The creation of the CTSCs is part of a wider £1bn reform of the justice system aimed at using technology to improve efficiency.

In its most recent annual report, HM Courts and Tribunals Service said: “Our service centre teams ensure support is given to all users as we transform from paper-based processes to modern digital systems.”

It added: “The new centres bring a number of justice services together under one roof to offer an improved and more consistent experience for victims, witnesses, and anyone who uses the court system. As our administrative functions are modernised and processes move to CTSCs, courts and tribunals will continue to focus on supporting our users that are attending for physical and video hearings.”