Credit: Crown Copyright/Open Government Licence v3.0

The Ministry of Justice has opened bidding on a long-term contract for the provision of a wide-area network to connect more than 1,000 locations around the UK.

The seven-year deal is slated to come into effect in February 2025 and is expected to be worth between £100m and £200m to the chosen supplier.

The infrastructure delivered by the winning bidder will connect facilities run by the ministry and those related to the work of its extensive collection of executive agencies and other arm’s-length bodies – which includes HM Courts and Tribunal Service, the Legal Aid Agency, and HM Prison and Probation Service, and the Office of the Public Guardian.

The WAN procurement comes several months after the ministry published a tender for the provision of local-area network connectivity. That opportunity – which closed for bids last week – is set to lead to the award of a three-year contract worth up to £180m and due to commence in April 2024.

The two buying processes collectively represent the Evolve Network Services programme – which is part of the government’s major projects portfolio. The scheme intends to replace the incumbent FITS engagement between the MoJ and Vodafone which has provided the ministry and its agencies with both WAN and LAN services since 2015.

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The new WAN provider will be expected to provide an overarching network that delivers “secure connectivity for authorised devices”, as well as “gateway services” enabling “secure access to other network domains, cross-government services, and the internet” and encrypted LAN traffic.

In addition to designing and delivering the network, the firm will also be tasked with supporting the migration from the existing infrastructure, including “mobilisation and planning for transition” and “maintaining service continuity” throughout the process.

The contract may also incorporate a number of “optional services”,  including mobile broadband, connecting the MoJ with other government departments via the government’s Public Services Network, and connecting indiviudal users via an existing platform for remote access.

Bids for the WAN contract are open until 28 June 2023.

According to the ministry’s most recent set of major project data, the Evolve Network Services programme is scheduled to complete by 30 August 2026, with a whole-life cost of £253m.

Alongside the LAN and WAN replacement is another major project – Evolve Voice and Video Services – to replace another long-standing engagement with Vodafone.