Serious Fraud Office seeks UK player for £10m ‘future-proof’ software system


The department responsible for prosecuting the most serious economic crime and corruption cases across England, Wales and Northern Ireland requires a software partner with relevant expertise and UK hosting capability

The Serious Fraud Office is offering a contract of almost £10m for a long-term software partner to provide a core operational platform.

The SFO, which employs 450 civil servants and operates as a non-ministerial department, has opened bids for a 10-year contract covering the provision of a case-management system (CMS) that “must be cloud-based, off the shelf, and of sufficient flexibility to be configurable to meet our specialist needs as an agency that both investigates and prosecutes complex economic and financial crime”.

The department’s work covers the most serious complex fraud and corruption cases and the contract notice outlines that, because of the sensitive nature of this work, suppliers must have relevant sector expertise and must be able to provide their technology from UK hosting facilities.

“In order to ensure adequate conformance to our unique operational requirements, the SFO is looking to contract with a specialist provider active in the criminal justice marketplace, with experience of implementing similar products for public sector bodies,” the notice says. “As a result of the sensitivity of the cases we tackle, the SFO requires that any winning solution must be either deployed on a UK-located cloud service, or [be] compatible with an existing UK-located cloud service. We cannot consider bids where this prerequisite is not met.”


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The SFO adds that successful bidder will be tasked with providing a “long-term solution… [that is] iterative by design and nature, to future-proof the system and ensure it continues to add value and benefit to the business over the course of the contract’s term”.

Bids for the contract are open until 20 November, after which the SFO expects evaluate five or six prospective CMS suppliers. The chosen firm will be appointed to a decade-long deal next year that will be worth about £9.6m.

“Flexibility and adaptability will be crucial factors in deciding any winning bid,” the contract notice adds. “These qualities will permit SFO to maintain resilience against inevitable change, as the successful bid must represent a long-term solution that will continue to provide benefits and add value over time.”

The SFO operates across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not the rest of the UK. The organisation’s website explains that pursues only “a small number of large economic crime cases”. 

“The director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud, bribery or corruption,” the site adds. “In considering whether to authorise an investigation the director will take into account the actual or intended harm that may be caused to: the public; the reputation and integrity of the UK as an international financial centre; or the economy and prosperity of the UK.”

Sam Trendall

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