Search is on for public sector IT consultants

The government is looking for consultants to help implement IT projects across the public sector.

OGCbuying.solutions - part of the Office of Government Commerce - is looking to set up framework agreements with consulting companies which can be used by public sector organisations as part of its Catalist range of products and services.

Catalist is used by public sector bodies such as government departments, hospitals, local authorities and police to buy services at better prices than they may be able to negotiate on their own.

Suppliers will be invited to bid on eight different categories, including IS strategy consultancy and development; IT architecture design including networking and communications; ebusiness consultancy; IT security consultancy; telecommunications consultancy; application design; emerging technologies and ERP.

Consulting will cover the provision of one-off advice and delivering reports and recommendations but will not extend to applications development, prototyping or implementation, the OGC said.

Last month the OGC began a similar process involving hardware and software suppliers.

Separately, figures from the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) reveal that spending on IT consulting has jumped by 36 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Spending on IT consulting and systems development stood at £300m in the first quarter of last year but has jumped to £408m in the first quarter of this year. Outsourcing consultancy services has also jumped to £600m from £530m in the first quarter of last year.

MCA President David Bailey said: "This is a positive start to the year, with consultancy fee income continuing to increase, and confidence in business improving slightly this quarter. Financial Services is one of the hot sectors at the moment for the consultancy industry as regulatory topics such as Basel II provide work for members."