The BBC flashes £560m ICT deal at hungry tech suppliers

The BBC has once again opened its wallet and is enticing suppliers to bid for a £560m ICT and hosting contract – part of its plans to replace its mega £2bn Atos contract. Over the next eight years it expects to splash between £400m and £560m on the deal, via a "single contracting entity" for end user compute services, hosting …

[Anonymous Coward]

Another public body...

...demonstrating how easy it is to spend an awful lot of someone elses money. Lets hope this isn't another £100m turkey. The BBC used to have its own well respected R&D department which produced amazing things on a shoestring. Now it forks out billions to 3rd parties. Wheres the return? What does the BBC do now technically thats innovative? Answers on a postcard...

[Commswonk]

Re: Another public body...

Answers on a postcard postage stamp...

FTFY

[ButlerInstitute]

Management of big projects vs. Interesting R&D.

Thing is .....

The BBC can still do amazing R&D projects, but the management processes involved in R&D projects are quite different (not least in scale) from big IT and Infrastructure stuff. What works for interesting, small-team, leading edge, R&D projects doesn't work very well for big IT projects.

That's where the BBC finds things difficult.

Of course that seems to be true of most large (ie. government) IT projects as well.

[ZootCadillac]

Re: Management of big projects vs. Interesting R&D.

Just where in is it in the BBC's remit that they are to undertake research and development projects? Where in the Royal Charter does it say that as well as its "mission to inform, educate and entertain" it also says I have to pay for vague R&D projects?

This archaic leech needs to be cut from the public teat and allowed to sink or swim on its own merits. it has no more value to the UK taxpayer now it is shown that private enterprise can do the same job as well if not better.

[PaulAb]

Who would I give this job to?.........

Mary, Mungo and Midge would be eminently qualified, although there could be hot competiton from Noggin the Nog

Failing to get the choice of my two preferred suppliers, I think I'd just fling a few hundred million out the Window at all the normal suspects in large failed projects

[Anonymous Coward]

And you still

can't watch iPlayer online without Flash.

[Smoking Gun]

So, lets get away from over huge single supplier contract, and tender for a bunch of services from ... a single supplier. Irrelevant of the supply chain companies like ATOS deliver f&Uk all themselves bar priming the contract, sub it all out and cream a margin off the top, why is this any different?

[PassiveSmoking]

ATOS?

Does that mean that from now on you'll have to take a "fit to watch" assessment before you can use iPlayer?

[Anonymous Coward]

I suggest they save time....

...and start preparing their legal case against HPE for failure to deliver as soon as possible