Version 1 Awarded Key IT Support Contract by Harrow Council

One of the fastest-growing IT services companies in Western Europe, Version 1 has been awarded a two-year contract by Harrow Council for Hosting, Application Maintenance and Support of the local authority’s IT Estate. Version 1 will be taking over the service in November 2020.

Harrow Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London, England providing an extensive range of local public services for 240,000 residents. The council shares responsibility with the Greater London Authority for strategic policies including housing, planning and the environment.

Employing approx. 5,000 people, Harrow Council is continuing with its digital transformation agenda to help improve service and reduce costs through the delivery of high-quality technology services. With over 90% of Council transactions already being carried out via self-service, the Council will continue to make more services available online, making it easier for residents and businesses to contact and transact with the Council.

Following extensive market engagement to elicit input into reviewing the council’s ICT sourcing strategy, in the autumn of 2019, Harrow Council sent out a tender to replace the incumbent supplier in the Hosting, Application Maintenance and Support of its IT estate to eligible suppliers via G-Cloud 11. The contract covers 310 managed applications, of which approx. 20 are key line of business, critical to the efficient running of the council’s services.

In line with G-Cloud procurement protocols, a number of potential providers were identified and invited to respond. The procurement was completed, with Version 1 ultimately being named as the successful party, largely due to demonstrating the relevant knowledge, approaches and roadmaps for Transition, Transformation, Innovation.

Version 1 also impressed with their community-centric approach in supporting the Borough through a dedicated Social Value Programme of work focused on improving the employability of residents in Harrow.

Upon signing the contracts with Harrow Council, Tom O’Connor, CEO at Version 1 said:

Version 1 celebrates winning the contract for supporting Harrow Council’s IT estate and ongoing Digital Transformation. Work has already started to ensure a successful commencement of this contract in November, working closely with Harrow Council and its exiting provider to ensure these mission-critical applications run efficiently and maintain maximum levels of operation. This achievement marks another milestone in Version 1’s rapid growth across the UK Public Sector and our demonstrable Customer Success in Digital Government and Public Sector Digital Transformation, Government Cloud and Application Modernisation programmes.  We look forward to working closely with Harrow Council, offering our skills and expertise to support the council’s ambitious Digital Transformation agenda.

Ben Goward, Harrow Council’s Director of ICT, said:

Harrow is a forward-looking borough, a place with a strong, proud and diverse cultural identity. At a time of economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever that we take the opportunities that digital, data and technology provide to improve our efficiency and effectiveness as a Council. The applications that Version 1 will be supporting through this contract underpin our front-line service delivery to over 240,000 residents. We look forward to working with Version 1 to ensure critical Council services are always available when needed and transformed as part of our ongoing digital transformation journey.