I suspect they have heard of a VPN.
But I suspect that would require new hardware, and therefore a tender process, many months or work, a ridiculous set of requirements and so on. It'll eventually go to some group like Crapita, for millions.
When a local IT firm would quite competently have done this for a small amount of money.
...but that's just not how Public Sector works.
I recently had experience of this - customer has connectivity with us, is public sector. Has bandwidth limited account. Reaches limit (first time ever). Calls up, is told they can either pay £X for top-ups of said bandwidth on a one off basis, or it would be cheaper to switch to a better tariff on a new contract term. £Y would be the cost over 2 years, which is less than £X is.
The latter scenario couldn't be done as it would require paperwork, contracts etc, but the former was absolutely fine as it can be expensed back through the system. That it costs more is irrelevant, it's actually the procedures that prevent the value for money. The very same ones that are supposed to improve value for money.
I see this every month...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
