MoD plans massive IT modernisation

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is preparing to put out a tender for a multimillion pound IT modernisation project which will give the armed forces faster access to vital information.

The Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) project will provide the armed forces with "information any time, any place, anywhere", according to David Palmer, assistant director at the Defence Communications Services Agency.

Palmer is responsible for overseeing the integration of the armed forces' legacy systems into DII.

Due to be operational by 2008, DII will give electronic access to information rated 'Top Secret' for the first time.

Existing systems only give people access to 'Secret' level information, with 'Top Secret' data held on paper only.

The contract will support and upgrade 150,000 terminals at 2,000 sites, and is likely to be worth around £300m a year.

The MoD is putting the finishing touches to the tender for the main contract which goes out this spring, said Palmer, speaking at an e-defence roundtable organised by Cityforum. The contract will be awarded in the first quarter of 2005.

The successful bidder will have to take on and migrate existing IT contracts with the armed forces into DII. The armed forces will keep the management of software in house.

But Simon Williams, head of secretariat at the Defence Infosec Product Cooperation Group, an interest group supported by the MoD, warned that without proper consultation there will be resistance within the armed forces to handing so much power to a third party.

Junior defence minister Dr Lewis Moonie explained that there are 50 ongoing change management programmes which all depend on DII. "You can't get world class defence on the cheap," he warned.

In one of the first modernisation steps, the MoD will soon announce its chosen supplier for antivirus software across its 150,000 terminals.