The Whitehall digital unit has previously conducted a major trial in which civil servants achieved time savings of about an hour each day by using Google and Microsoft automation tech

The Government Digital Service is planning a cross-public sector rollout of artificial intelligence-powered tools that can support automated software development, PublicTechnology can reveal.

Earlier this month, the digital unit’s parent organisation, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, signed an initial six-month contract with IT reseller Softcat. Over the lifespan of the deal – which can be extended by a year, to a total term of 18 months – the supplier will provide GDS with various “AI coding assistant” technologies.

A recently published online procurement notice indicates that the engagement is intended to support central government in deploying the tools throughout public services.

“The Government Digital Service requires licences for a comprehensive range of AI coding assistants, for deployment rapidly and at scale to software engineering teams across the UK public sector,” the notice adds.

Many of the details of the services and products covered by engagement are redacted from text of the contract itself, but the document includes specific references to Google’s Gemini Code Assist platform, as well as software from Microsoft, which makes the Github Copilot AI coding system.

The capabilities of these two tools were tested in DSIT-run trials in which about 1,000 developers across 50 government entities participated. An independent assessment commissioned by the technology department found that the Microsoft and Google technologies enabled coders to save an average of almost hour a day – equating to 28 days of additional work over the course of a year, the report found.

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PublicTechnology understands that, in addition to the Microsoft and Google tools, the cross-public sector rollout will also include Amazon’s Q Developer tool and a coding assistant based on the Claude system from Anthropic – which forms the basis of the GOV.UK Chat platform developed by GDS.

It is understood that only a relatively small number of licences are currently available, and public bodies wishing to deploy the technology must directly contact the Engineering Team within GDS. Implementation will be overseen by DSIT, and will only take place once the relevant users have completed training. All of these processes will be tailored to each organisation’s needs, and government will continue to monitor the impact and performance of the coding assistants.

Alongside these one-on-one engagements, the central government department will also run wider hackathon events, as well as publishing related guidance and best-practice documents.

In answer to PublicTechnology enquiries, a DSIT spokesperson said: “AI coding assistants have the potential to significantly boost productivity across the software engineering professions in the public sector – a key focus of our plan to use technology to rewire the services people rely on every day. This contract will help us do that – giving expert teams within government access to leading tools which will deliver the transformations hardworking people deserve.”