BT Agrees £200m London Local Government Communications Framework

BT has agreed a new framework with the tri-borough partnership, allowing all 33 London boroughs to procure communications services from the company in a deal worth up to £200 million.

The first tri-borough IT framework was agreed as part of a wider initiative for joint-service provision between Westminster City Council, Borough of Hammersmith and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which started in 2010.

Since then, four IT frameworks have now been agreed, of which BT is the sole supplier for three.

BT tri-borough IT services

The latest framework will allow customers to choose from a range of BT’s local and wireless networking products, landline and mobile services, video conferencing and unified communications.

Aside from the London boroughs, the framework is open to other public sector organisations in the capital, including the NHS, schools, Metropolitan Police and Transport for London (TfL).

BT claims the frameworks make it simpler and cheaper for local government to procure services by reducing paperwork, speeding up delivery and ensuring public sector bodies only have to deal with a single supplier.

“This new framework represents an innovative approach to procurement, making it simpler, faster and more cost-effective for public sector organisations in the capital to buy the latest cutting-edge ICT services,” said Colm O’Neill, managing director of major and public sector at BT.

“We see this very much as a partnership with the organisations involved and they’ll be able to play a part in shaping the future direction of travel of the framework and the products available on it.”

Bromley Council is one of the boroughs to have taken advantage of previous frameworks, agreeing a £9 million contract with BT for computer and data centre services earlier this year. It provides desktop services for 2,000 staff and manages 350 services, saving the council an estimated ten percent in costs.

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