DXC lands Metropolitan Police outsourcing deal that could climb to £1B
Supplier will support the current Oracle E-Business Suite and lead migration to a new Oracle Fusion SaaS platform
The UK's largest police force has awarded DXC Technology a contract worth up to £1 billion to develop and run a host of business process outsourcing services – including building a new Oracle ERP system.
Set to support a number of related organizations as well as the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the contract includes ERP, resource management (RM), and business process outsourcing services (BPO) under the banner of Met Business Services (MBS).
DXC will support the current Oracle E-Business Suite and act as systems integrator for the move to Oracle Fusion SaaS on a completely new architecture.
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An award notice said the company had won the work for the "provision of managed services for HR, finance, and commercial operations… [including] technology enablement, process optimization, and service delivery."
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It said the deal was awarded to EntServ UK Limited, the registered company that operates under the name DXC Technology.
With a budget of around £3.8 billion last year, the Met began the search for a new service provider to support its technical estate in December 2024. In a notice to the market, the Met said it wanted to re-tender a number of services under the banner of MBS, "primarily the existing Business Processing Outsourcing Services, ERP, and resource management requirements."
It said it was looking for a "Master Vendor" to "bear the full risk for all subcontractors. However, MPS may require the ability to enforce the Supplier's contracts directly via third party rights in subcontracts."
The business case for the new contract, signed off in January 2023, said it would replace the incumbent supplier, Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL), owned by French services company Sopra Steria.
The SSCL outsourcing agreement began in 2015 under a "Business Support Services Transformation Programme." The deal was worth £234.5 million over ten years and was expected to accrue savings of £101.4 million in that time. However, the Met increased its value by £89 million in 2019 to account for "volumetric changes." Now the force has extended the arrangement again, adding a further £105 million to the cost, bringing the total contract price £428.5 million. It is set to end in 2027.
SSCL supports the ERP system called P-SOP, a policing version of Oracle E-Business Suite. The rationale for the move to SaaS points out that the existing system requires 55 separate interfaces, including interfaces with other legacy systems. The Met employs around 46,000 officers and staff.
In the contract notice that kicked off the competition in January last year, the Met said the estimated contract term is up to ten years, including two years for design, build, transition, and implementation; five years to run the service; two years of potential extensions; and up to one year of termination assistance.
The notice said The Met will cap the award at £370 million "based on pre-market engagement projections and an expected increase in automation by the market."
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However, it added that the value could increase to £1 billion to "allow other associated organizations to access these services." The new award notice prices the deal at £1 billion.
The Register has asked the Met which authorities might access the service. ®