The Government Procurement Service has announced a forthcoming procurement framework that will allow all government departments to buy a vast range of IT services.

The procurement framework has an estimated total value of £1 billion and will be available for use by every department of government, including ministries, local authorities, the NHS and the BBC.

It comprises 35 contract lots, each lasting at least two years, covering areas such as integration, application development, data management and customer relationship management tools. The contract notice says that a maximum of 680 suppliers will be able to enroll. 

One of the lots is dedicated to ‘Big Data’. It covers "the implementation, operation and support of Big Data solutions to efficiently process large quantities of data", including massively parallel processing (MPP) databases, data mining grids, and distributed file systems".

The framework also includes lots which cover integration, ERP and HR, business intelligence, geographical information services, IT security, application and data management.

The closing date for bids is July 30.

Last week, the government confirmed its list of approved suppliers for the Public Services Network, the shared network services framework for the public sector. The list includes the major network services suppliers including BT, Fujitsu, Telefonica and Everything Everywhere, but also some smaller suppliers such as Daisy Communications and Airwave Solutions.