The UK government is hunting for a supplier partner to meet the central government’s official and top-secret data hosting needs.
As a part of the Crown Hosting contract, valued at be at between £50 million and £700 million, the IT partner will be required to provide the government with networks, servers and cabling, as well as other hosting services in the next four years.
The selected partner will have a majority shareholding of 75 percent plus one share in DatacentreCo, the new privately held limited company responsible for the data centre’s establishment, with government retaining a minority stake of 25 percent.
The government said the data centre space would be used to handle information classified as “official” “secret” and “top secret” under the new Government Security Classification Policy.
In the tender document, the government said the private sector “facilities partner” to be chosen will be required to supply data centre space and services from at least two separate locations. The chosen partner must have experience in similar projects as well as the “ability to grow a sustainable, profitable business,” the tender added.
The Department of Work and Pensions, the Home Office and the Highways Agency will be among the first departments to get data hosting service from the would-be supplier.
The contracts is expected to be awarded in early 2015, with services to roll out shortly afterwards.
