The Cabinet Office has signed a contract to support delivery of a ‘major historic archiving project’, in which government will develop a new online service to honour the late monarch
The government has signed a six-figure contract to support the creation of an interactive “digital memorial” for the late Queen Elizabeth II, PublicTechnology can reveal.
The online commemoration will bring together and use visual tools to display a range of content related to the Queen, as well as enabling people from around the world to submit their own memories and reflections. PublicTechnology understands that the website is intended to provide those who might be unable to visit the planned physical memorial in London with an opportunity to memorialise and celebrate the monarch (pictured above).
On 2 February, the Cabinet Office entered into a 14-month contract with Softwire – a north London-based firm specialised in software development and digital consultancy. The deal, which can be extended for a further year, is valued at £900,000, inclusive of VAT.
Recently published commercial documents – under the heading “major historic archiving project” – reveal that the tech company has been retained “to provide the build, run, and continuous improvement capabilities for the Queen Elizabeth II Digital Memorial”.
The memorial in question, which will complement a physical memorial being built in London’s St James’s Park at a potential cost of more than £50m, will be “an online service intended to allow the public to learn about the late Queen and contribute their own memories”.
According to its dedicated GOV.UK page, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee was established in 2024 “to advise the Government and the Royal Household on the national memorialisation” – including both the London construction project and the newly revealed digital component.
PublicTechnology understands that the committee wishes to create an online accompaniment “to ensure that those outside of London and the UK can enjoy the same sense of reflection and commemoration of her life”.
More details are expected to formally announced next month, it is understood.
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In the meantime, the text of government’s agreement with Softwire reveals that “the Cabinet Office has already concluded a discovery phase, and is… nearing the conclusion of the conclusion of the alpha phase, focused on finalising scope, prototyping and undertaking user research with members of the public” for the memorial website.
As work on the digital project moves into the beta phase of delivery, overall “governance and strategy” for the project will be overseen by government, but technical elements will be led by the supplier.
“The Cabinet Office will set priorities and goals but gives Softwire scope to design and implement the solution, subject to agreed constraints, budgets, timelines, and governance,” the contract says. “Softwire shall demonstrate proactive quality assurance, robust testing, clear acceptance criteria, and transparent reporting. The work order shall provide ongoing collaboration, staged reviews, and shared accountability for outcomes, with open and timely communication and a commitment to continuous improvement and value for money.”
The commercial agreement states that, while “technology choices have not yet been finalised”, government has assumptions about the platforms that will underpin the service – although the details of these systems have been redacted.
“Data shall be held in a graph-based data store, modelling memories, place and events and the relations between those entities and others,” the contract says. “The Cabinet Office anticipates using a third party headless CMS product.”
Any technology used in the project must offer “compelling user experience, showcasing… content in its best possible light” and should also be “scalable to meet peak user demand for citizen-facing components”, the contract says. Infrastructure must also be “resilient to cyberattack, including phishing, ransomware, malware, trojans, brute force, man-in-the-middle, denial-of-service, code-injection attacks, XSS, supply-chain attacks, insider threats, [and] cloud misconfiguration”.
External expertise
One of the core deliverables of the contract will be the provision of software development capabilities, including expertise in “front-end, back-end, data, and infrastructure engineering, including development using a modern stack… [and then] deployment on scalable public cloud”.
Alongside tech specialists, Softwire is also expected to offer the “provision of operational support, [covering] comprehensive run and support, including incident management, application patching, dependency upgrades, capacity planning, and load testing”.
While the Cabinet Office will be responsible for sourcing content for the website, the supplier will be asked to offer “capabilities to support the creation, design and curation of content, including editorial and user-generated content”.
The contract adds: “The Cabinet Office acknowledges a duty of care to individuals working on this project, [and] any Softwire Technology Limited personnel dealing with user-generated content must have access to appropriate support services e.g. employee emotional and mental health support.”
The external personnel required by government “may change in the future post-launch to support continuous improvement and iteration”. But, regardless of the roles in questions, the contract stipulates that all staff working on the Queen’s memorial “must be UK-based and operating from within the UK”.
While Softwire will work with government on the digital element, architecture firm Foster + Partners was last summer chosen to design the physical memorial in central London.
