Telecoms firm Energis has beaten BT and Cable &
Wireless to win a £40m, five-year contract to overhaul the
Government Secure Intranet.Energis replaces incumbent C&W in
running the system that enabled civil servants to send e-mails
across a secure environment.
The new service is based on an internet
protocol VPN. Hugh Barrett, OGCbuying.solutions chief executive,
said, "At the end of a hard-fought competition, Energis' offer for
the GSI gave us best value for money and an innovative
approach."
More than 200,000 civil servants already use
the system and Energis expected this to grow to more than
300,000.
Energis will link all central and local
government departments to a "next-generation" GSI, as well as
provide secure interfaces to other European government
networks.
Energis will also use a range of access
methods to drive down connectivity charges. Other improvements will
include directory services, offering contact details for every
individual and department, and a web portal providing secure access
to services.
The company will also build a separate, lower
cost, secure but unrestricted intranet service to attract
government departments not yet using the GSI and have no need for a
permanently restricted environment.
Energis already manages 2,000 government sites
on its network, including the Crown Prosecution Service, the
Employment Service, Inland Revenue and Vehicle Inspectorate.