Metropolitan Police selects Atos for SIAM tower contract

Met Police ploughs ahead with SIAM tower model despite it 'not being condoned' by government

The Metropolitan Police Service has awarded Atos with its Service Integration and Management (SIAM) "tower" contract.

Atos will provide the SIAM layer, as well as service desk and management services, to the Met Police after the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) signed a contract with the IT services provider.

A Met Police spokesperson confirmed to Computing that the organisation was likely to use the SIAM tower model back in March, when it revealed that it would outsource its software development capabilities. The outsourcing programme would be split into separate, functional "towers", a Met Police newsletter read, and redundancies were expected - with only 100 staff retained in-house out of a current workforce of 800.

Chris Naylor, director of digital policing at the Metropolitan Police, said that the contract signalled "a change" in the way the department delivers IT.

"Working in partnership with the emerging Digital Policing Intelligent Client Function (ICF), Atos brings a wealth experience in managing the SIAM Towers model and will be our partners in managing the ICT infrastructure," Naylor said.

He continued: "The SIAM Towers model is all about collaboration and leveraging the best capabilities from our technology partners. We have a joint commitment to continuous improvement, delivering vital savings for the Metropolitan Police over time and bringing innovation to the way the Metropolitan Police delivers and supports technology for colleagues."

Despite Naylor's comments, it was still a surprise that the organisation opted for the SIAM tower model, after a blog by Alex Holmes, deputy director of the Government Digital Service, suggested that the approach was no longer in line with government policy and was "not condoned".

While many other public sector bodies, such as the Ministry of Justice and Transport for London, are in the middle of a SIAM implementation and would therefore would find it near impossible to change their strategies now, the Met Police could have taken a different approach.

Computing did question the government's suggestion that the tower model was "no longer condoned", as it had been working for the Tri-Borough council, and so perhaps it is the right fit for some organisations.

But it isn't the first time that the Met Police has decided to go against what is expected by government, and the IT sector in general. It is outsourcing its human resources, payroll and finance functions to Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) in a 10-year deal.

This goes against what many in government have been advocating in recent years: namely, short, flexible contracts that minimise vendor lock-in.