The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has earmarked £2 billion for big data and analytics spending over the next four years.

The data services are set to be used by central government departments and all other UK public sector bodies, including local authorities, health, police, fire and rescue, education, and devolved administrations.

The Government said that the importance of big data and analytics has been heightened by the pandemic, and that it is fast becoming recognised as both business critical and a core business function and highlighted how many of its departments now have chief data officers.

The Government claimed the framework will offer a central route to market for the Government’s big data and analytics requirements and will enable “competitive and agile procurements” across a specialist pool of suppliers.

The move will support a range of needs according to the Government, including individual niche work packages and complete data service transformations, as well as new service builds and related commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software offerings.

The supplier ecosystem created by the framework is designed to grow internal capabilities and reduce recognised skills gaps according to the Government, supporting the creation of intelligent big data and analytics functions across the UK public sector.

The government is set to begin accepting bids from interested suppliers on 8 October 2021, and the contract is set to be confirmed on 6 April 2022.

The UK government is spending almost half of its IT budget on servicing legacy IT systems, a report found last month.

The cabinet office report, named “Organising for Digital Delivery”, said the UK spends £2.3 billion a year on patching legacy IT systems out of its £4.7 billion total annual IT budget.

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