The Ministry of Justice has retained IT and business consultancy CGI for the maintenance and support of a range of business-critical applications at HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
They have agreed to renew an eight-year relationship, which expired in August, with a contract valued at up to £60 million that covers 35 applications, the potential for further development and hosting.
It will initially run for 12 months with an option to extend for another 12.
The award notice says that most of the applications are classed as ‘heritage’ due to their age and many are critical to case management and progression, typically complex and bespoke.
This has fed into a decision to award the deal without competition, with the notice stating that no other supplier has the necessary technical knowledge and experience to provide the services.
People factor
“The number of people with the skills, knowledge and experience to maintain and/or enhance them is limited outside CGI, which has developed significant knowledge and experience of how the applications were built and developed and how they operate and interface with each other,” it says.
It adds that the company has access to the required testing environments and that a new supplier would need around a year to develop an equivalent, along with the infrastructure and connectivity.
CGI has established itself as a prime supplier to HMCTS, with other major deals over the past year for common services support and the replacement of the Libra GoB (Green on Black) system, part of the Libra case management suite.
