Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the (a) original and (b) current cost expectations for the New Style of Info Tech Base programme.

The New Style of IT Base programme provides the essential ICT infrastructure used by the Ministry of Defence at OFFICIAL and SECRET. The capability delivered by the programme is now in-service. The original authorisation, to design, build and transition to the new services by 2018, was £1.2 billion. Since then, the programme scope has been increased in terms of both time and capability.

The programme is now approved to maintain the current live services until follow-on services takeover incrementally until 31 March 2025 when the contract will end. Capability scope changes include an upgrade to the operating system, security enhancements and deployment of 180,000 laptops to enable working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The programme is currently forecasting, including the original and increased scope and all in-service costs to 31 March 2025, at £2.2 billion against an approval limit of £2.4 billion. Despite the threefold increase in time, efficiencies and contractual price protection have resulted in a forecast cost that is less than double the original cost expectation.