Lincolnshire Police Outsource IT Systems In £200m Deal

Security specialist G4S has been named as Lincolnshire Police Authority’s preferred bidder for an outsourcing deal which includes ICT, back office and command and control solutions.

G4S claims that this is the first deal of its kind with a British Police Authority and that it beat competition from 160 other bidders.

Largest deal of its kind

The company will deliver the Lincolnshire Police Business Transformation Project as part of a ten year build which will start in April 2012.

G4S will deliver services for ICT, HR, learning and development, assets and facilities management, finance and procurement and support. Operational services provided will include managing force control rooms, custody and identification units as well as a number of police bureaus. These services were previously delivered by a combination of civilian employees and police officers.

The contract is worth at least £200m over the next ten years and apparently represents the widest range of services ever offered in a single contract by a UK police authority. The project is expected to make £28m of savings over the life of the contract.

Move to Consolidation

“Many of the services provided by Lincolnshire Police will now be delivered externally by specialists who can deliver greater savings and improve efficiency,” commented John Shaw, managing director of G4S Police Support Services. “We believe that the combination of Lincolnshire’s policing model and our expertise in delivering middle and back office functions will improve services and deliver the savings the Authority needs.”

“This can only lead to a better outcome for the people of Lincolnshire and the taxpayer in general,” he added.

The deal comes at a time when police forces are attempting to rationalise their IT systems. In September, a report criticised police forces for the vast number of incompatible services, describing them as “unfit for purpose”.

The government proposed plans in July for a private company to manage police IT systems as part of a consolidation programme. Currently there are around 5,000 staff working on 2,000 separate systems across 100 data centres, costing a total of £1.2 billion.

However earlier this week, the plans were dealt a blow when police chiefs labelled the plans “unworkable”.