The second of the quintet of clusters under government’s shared services programme has picked the core tech suppliers, with the chosen software platform replacing an existing patchwork of five vendors

The second of government’s five shared services clusters has picked the core back-office technology suppliers for the next decade.

The Matrix cluster – which includes nine departments, broadly grouped around Whitehall’s most policy-focused agencies – has entered into contracts with software provider Workday and tech services firm Cognizant, according to a newly published commercial notice. The deals are worth a cumulative tally of £173.2m, once VAT is included.

The cluster is led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and also features the Cabinet Office, Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Business and Trade. All of these departments have yet to move to cloud-based software provision – unlike the other four agencies in the cluster: HM Treasury; the Department of Health and Social Care; the Department for Education; and the Attorney General’s Office.

These nine organisations will now all standardise on a shared Workday enterprise resource planning infrastructure – including the likes of HR and accounting software – to be delivered from the cloud.

The Matrix cluster currently has one of the most fragmented software landscapes, with the Shared Services Strategy for Government indicating that products from vendors including Oracle, MHR, Integra, Microsoft and Workday are currently in use across the nine departments.

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This compares, for example, with the Synergy grouping of DWP, Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Defra, all of which already used Oracle software. The cluster last week became the first of the five to pick its tech suppliers – retaining Oracle, and appointing IBM as its systems integrator partner to support delivery. The two deals were worth a cumulative £850m.

The Matrix contracts are considerably smaller, with Workday being signed to an initial 10-year engagement worth about £76m. Cognizant, meanwhile, has been awarded a five-year deal valued at £97m, and covering the provision of “implementation and support services” for the shared software rollout. Both the agreements can be extended for two further years.

Alongside the nine core departments, the commercial notice says that “there is potential for additional arm’s-length bodies to onboard, however each will be assessed on an individual basis”.

“The Matrix Programme, with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology acting as the lead contracting authority, has designed, developed, and procured new technology and capabilities that are required to help modernise the departments back-office systems,” the notice adds. “It will deliver a high-quality, and good-value, system and support service to help streamline the transactions and activities that underpin the way departments are run.”

Each of the shared services clusters has asked software firms and systems integrators to team up in order to bid for contracts, via a tendering process that requires them “to work together in partnership from the outset, jointly proposing a cohesive solution and delivery approach”. The Matrix deals attracted four such joint bids, including the victorious Workday-Cognizant submission.

Alongside Matrix and Synergy are three other departmental collectives, including: a Defence grouping for the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces; an Overseas cluster largely comprised of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office; and the HMRC-led Unity cluster, which also houses the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.