§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many outsourced IT contracts have been signed by his Department in each year since 1997; how much each of these contracts is worth; with whom they are signed; how many have been renegotiated; how many are still in place; and if he will make a statement. [126199]
§ Mr. RammellSince 1997 two outsourced IT contracts have been signed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In March 1997 a 10-year PFI contract, valued at £2 million, was signed with BT Syntegra for an electronic archive system, known as Minerva. In May 2000 a 10-year PFI contract was signed with Global Crossing Telecommunications (UK) for the FCO Telecommunications Network (FTN). This contract is now valued at £237.6 million including bandwidth purchased for other Government Departments. Both PFI contracts are still in place and neither has been renegotiated.