The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) is on the lookout for a managed service provider for its Enterprise IT Platform. The contract is estimated to be valued between £45m ($58.25m) and £60m ($77.67m). The MOD is seeking a supplier that can deliver a “multi-tenant hybrid cloud architecture, a workload security zone, and the ability to extend the architecture hosted beyond the data center in subsequent delivery milestones.”
Industry partners interested in the tender will need to operate within a “collaborative joint mission approach” and manage technical risks at the highest level. The Enterprise IT Platform will operate in the SECRET Domain, primarily in the UK but with some global operations in connected and disconnected states. The supplier will also be responsible for migrating the MOD’s current C4IS system to the new Enterprise Platform, serving 5,500 end users in the UK and overseas.
There is potential for future migration of at least two additional IT systems onto the new platform. The initial contract will span five years, with two additional option years. An “engagement and networking event” will be hosted by the MOD in September for potential suppliers.
While the locations of MOD data centers are not specified in the tender, a case study from Net Consulting described the department as having a vast and disparate data center infrastructure across the British Isles, with some use of the Cloud. In 2015, Infiniti IT was contracted to develop a data center for the MOD in Aldershot, Hampshire.
The MOD released a cloud strategy in February 2023, aiming to accelerate plans for hyperscale cloud adoption across Defence. In September 2023, DCD reported issues with the department’s aging IT systems, impacting its management of over 740 million items valued at £11.8 billion ($14.59bn).
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