Departmental programme dedicated to delivering and supporting crucial tech platforms used in border and immigration settings has awarded a major contract to help ensure systems are based on consistent foundations
The Home Office has signed a major multimillion-pound contract to support and improve the technology infrastructure underpinning some of the UK’s critical IT systems.
Newly published commercial information reveals that, on 21 February, the department entered into a four-year engagement with supplier PA Consulting for the provision of “technical architecture services” for its Migration and Borders Technology Portfolio (MBTP).
According to contract documents, the portfolio has a remit “to drive digital ambitions, design appropriate solutions and deliver digital services quickly and effectively, impacting some of the most critical systems that help to keep citizens safe and the country secure”.
The MBTP array of various programmes of work is supported by a collective tally of 3,500 officials and suppliers.
The external consultants brought in via the architecture services deal – which is valued at £85m – will be tasked with helping “to ensure that… there is [a] consistent architecture and delivery approach, supporting a coherent end-to-end journey and that there is a strong alignment between business value and the technology products that are designed, built and operated”.
To support this objective, the Home Office wants to create and implement “a consistent, repeatable architecture process across the entirety of MBTP”.
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Other “strategic requirements” set out in the contract include a need to “ensure traceability of architecture deliverables… [and that] IT strategy aligns and is driven by business strategy”.
The supplier will also be expected to “challenge where business value is not clearly defined or is regarded as minimal” while also undertaking efforts to “drive ongoing innovation and continuously look to industry improvements to make operational efficiencies and reduce costs”.
The tech architecture proposals put forward by the consultancy should include detail “from logical architecture through to physical implementation of application and infrastructure”.
The contract – which runs to February 2029 – adds that in-scope services will also include “evaluation of the range of potential solutions to include assessment of whole-life costs and focus on solutions that deliver both service excellence and value for money”.
According to information published online by the Home Office, the MBTP unit works to “develop some of the most challenging and transformative technology products, supporting critical programmes within the migration and borders system”.
“Working closely with colleagues in the Migration and Borders mission, we also support several of the Home Office’s capabilities such as customer services, immigration enforcement and Border Force,” the department adds. “We jointly design services, build, run and sustain them to enable some of the government’s most important strategic outcomes, notably the legitimate movement of people and goods to support economic prosperity.”
