Association of Chief Police Officers signs up Computacenter for software framework agreement

Computacenter has been awarded status on a multi-million pound framework agreement for supplying software and associated services to the criminal justice sector.

Under the contract with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), criminal justice organisations will be able to take advantage of Computacenter’s extensive software licensing and management expertise.

The three-year agreement is expected to be worth up to £5 million per annum, and will help the Home Office organisations, fire services and police forces in the UK improve the financial and operational management of their software portfolios.

A representative from ACPO commented: “The Police Service is under increasing pressure to deliver best value, improve efficiency and work in collaboration with other agencies. This agreement enables police forces to work with trusted IT partners to help achieve these goals and streamline their software procurement processes and costs in a timely and effective manner.”

Under the ACPO framework, which features three preferred software suppliers, Computacenter will offer support at every stage of the software lifecycle from procurement and testing through to implementation and management.

Cherry Freeman, Software Business Unit Director for Computacenter, commented: “Software licensing and management has become increasingly complex in recent years, and many organisations now struggle to keep on top of their application portfolio. Under the agreement, we will be able to help organisations audit, benchmark and rationalise their software to ensure they maximise their investment.”

Computacenter is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the second biggest   LAR (large account reseller) in the UK. As well as procuring Microsoft licences, users of the ACPO framework will also be able to source licences from all the major vendors, such as Lotus, Novell, VMWare and Symantec.

“Thanks to our multi-vendor relationships, we are able to help organisations with compliance and cost-avoidance, as well as advise on policies and procedures,” commented Cherry. “As a result, organisations can not only make financial but also efficiency savings.”

The agreement lasts until August 2008, and will eventually include the development of an online procurement catalogue for users.