§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the information technology contracts in excess of £500,000 let by his Department or its predecessor since April 1991, giving in each case the original estimated cost and original estimated completion date, the actual cost and actual completion date and the names of the contractors involved and consultants retained by his Department. [3510]
§ Mr. Paul MurphySince it was established on 1 July 1999, the information technology requirements of the Wales Office have been met by the National Assembly for Wales under the terms of a service level agreement.
There is no central record of contracts entered into by the former Welsh Office prior to that date. However, one contract in excess of £500,000 has been identified—OSIRIS, a contract under the Private Finance Initiative for provision of networked office automation facilities, for which the requested details are as follows:
125W The cost of the contract is dependent on the number of users of the system. User numbers have risen both as a result of exploiting the opportunities offered by IT for changes to working practices and also by a variety of steps which have been taken to strengthen the democratic process in Wales.
- original estimated cost—£20 million (excluding VAT);
- original estimated completion date—this is a service contract of seven years duration which ends in January 2004;
- actual cost—the contract has yet to reach its full term. It is estimated that expenditure by January 2004 will be £55 million (excluding VAT);
- actual completion date—January 2004 (the contract has transferred to the National Assembly for Wales); and
- supplier—Siemens Business Services.