The Government Digital Service (GDS) has signed a two-year £ 12million hosting contract with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that could effectively double the amount the department has spent to date with the public cloud giant. .
The deal means that AWS will remain in place as the hosting provider for the department’s various digital products, a position the tech company has held since signing its first 12-month hosting contract with GDS in June. 2019.
The 2019 deal was valued at £ 3.35million and continued until June 2020, when the department signed a new hosting deal with AWS worth £ 6.6million. sterling until June 30, 2021.
The latest contract is double the length and value of the previous hosting deal GDS had in place with AWS, with data shared by public sector-focused market intelligence firm Tussell, confirming that this latest contract brings the department’s total expenditure with AWS to around £ 24.5m.
As a result, this latest deal could potentially double the department’s total spend with AWS to date, although the £ 12million is classified as a ‘maximum possible spend’, rather than a guaranteed spend, at this point.
The role of GDS is to centrally develop and deploy digital services for use by other ministries, and its activities are overseen by the Cabinet Office.
Computer Weekly has contacted the Cabinet Office for further comments on the contract, in terms of how it feeds into the work done by GDS, and received the following comment in response. “Amazon Web Services is just one of thousands of government cloud service providers and our procurement decisions are always based on value for money and providing the best quality services,” the spokesperson said. .
The contract award notice for the accommodation arrangement confirms that the agreement is scheduled until June 30, 2023, having entered into force on July 1, 2021.
The document also confirms that the deal was made through the G-Cloud 12 framework, in accordance with the terms of Amazon’s UK Volume Commitment Program (UKVCP), which provides cloud buyers with access to discounts on AWS services if they agree to sign a two-year agreement with the company.
The discounts received depend on the amount the department commits to spend, and the contract award notice confirms that GDS will receive a reduced rate of 11% on AWS services.
In a mailout to subscribers, Dale Peters, research director at IT analytics house TechMarketView, shared data that shows AWS continues to do well with the government’s G-Cloud provisioning framework.
“In the first half of calendar year 2021, AWS received £ 63.1million via G-Cloud, up 16% from the same period in 2020,” Peters wrote.
‘Its biggest clients during the period were HMRC (£ 20.2million), Home Office (£ 19.0million), DWP (£ 7.7million), Scottish Government (3 , £ 3million) and the Department of Justice (£ 2.0million). GDS was next on the list, so AWS will be happy to secure its customer base for another two years. “
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