Government department focused on local government and services has signed a major deal with a tech consultancy which, in the coming months and years, will provide digital experts and advice

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has signed a £12m deal for a supplier partner to provide “expert capability” to the department’s programme delivering artificial intelligence tools to councils across the country.

On 28 November, MHCLG entered into an initial two-year engagement with London-based digital consultancy Softwire. The deal, which can be extended for a further term of one year, is intended to provide the department with a “capability partner for the AI in Local Government (AILG) project”, according to the heading of a newly published commercial notice.

The department intends that the programme in question will enable “sustainable rollout and scaling of AI tools to local government”, the text of the contract itself indicates.

Softwire has been brought in to support the project with the “provision of expert capability in delivery, user-centred design, and technology to support the work of AILG”.

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To help achieve this, the supplier will provide MHCLG staff working on the AILG programme with both additional hands-on digital expertise and “technical advice to support with decision making”. The firm will also assist with “infrastructure design and implementation to support scaling” and will provide “ongoing support with development work – such as to add features to existing tooling”, the contract adds.

Other services in scope of the deal will include “coaching and upskilling colleagues in emerging trends [and] opportunities in AI”.

And, as well as assisting with the implementation of new tech across local government, the provider may also be tasked with supporting the “rollout and scaling of AI tools which may be identified for deployment across MHCLG [and] its arm’s-length bodies”.

The contract lists a range of roles Softwire will be asked to provide to supplement civil servants working on the project. This includes: practitioner developers and designers; senior developers and designers; senior delivery leads; senior AI and data practice specialists; tech and user-centred design leads; and senior digital team roles, including principals and directors.