After being expanded to include the enlarged Government Digital Service, the science and tech department has put in place an agreement to shift 20TB of data to a new home

After being expanded to incorporate the new digital centre of government, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has signed a potential £2.5m contract to support the migration of vast swathes of data from Cabinet Office systems.

On 26 August, DSIT entered into a 19-month deal with Swedish-headquartered tech supplier Advania. The engagement relates to the migration of 20TB of data that was previously stored by the Government Digital Service and its now-defunct sister unit the Central Digital and Data Office in a Google tenancy environment.

This information will now largely be moved into a Microsoft set-up overseen by DSIT, although some data that relates to the Cabinet Office will be retained by the central department – although, again, will be switched over from Google to Microsoft.

“This migration service will cover both resources and migration software,” says the text of the contract. “It covers both the technical migration of data and assets, as well as supporting the change management journey of staff, including communication and engagement, training and support package to accompany the migration.”

The document adds: “The data migration scope includes, but is not limited to, emails and documents, as well as legacy departmental record archives.”

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A key “coordinating role” will be played by the Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) unit, which oversees the joint provision of services including procurement, digital, property, finance, HR and security across DSIT and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. It also provides some of these services to the Department for Business and Trade, as well as to several other government entities.

The data transition forms part of a wider “DSIT MOG IT programme” launched following the machinery of government change that saw GDS expanded and moved into DSIT. This change was announced a few days after the general election in July 2024, and was formally completed earlier this summer.

“New DSIT devices and accounts have been set up for staff transitioning to DSIT during phase 1 of the programme, and the programme team are now undertaking the discovery for Phase 2,” the contract says. “Phase 2 includes the transfer of data and digital assets to the DSIT Microsoft 365 tenancy. A high-level migration discovery was undertaken in late 2024, identifying the source and target platforms, data sets and volumes”

The document adds: “The migration workstream reports into the DSIT MOG IT Programme Board,” the contract adds. ”The ICS information governance team will undertake the contract manager role and track the budget, progress against plans, risks, issues and dependencies.”

DSIT has committed to an initial spend of almost £750,000, plus VAT, to fulfil its current statement of works. The agreement provides for potential extensions and an additional £1.32m in spending – which, including tax, could take the ultimate value of the engagement to more than £2.5m.