The Cabinet Office has revealed £2.5 billion-worth of IT projects that are planned for the next five years.

The projects were revealed as part of a government-wide procurement transparency exercise, designed to "allow government and industry to work together to spot any skills and investment gaps so they can act to safeguard UK competitiveness and growth".

Published on the ContractsFinder website yesterday, the project range from IT training for the army on the Isle of Wight, to shared services platforms for the Ministry of Justice.

The largest planned contract is for the provision of IT services framework to the Department of Education, supporting schools across the UK, worth up to £575 million over four years.

Commenting on the data publication, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable said that the government had been "too short-term in how we’ve done procurement in the past".

"By publishing details of our expected future requirements ahead of time…we can help give UK suppliers the confidence to invest in people, plants and technologies here at home so they can compete for and win these government contracts," Cable said.

"Industry leaders recognise the value of publishing these pipelines and that is why they support our reforms which will boost growth," Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude said. “Publishing data on what we plan to buy – whether it’s tunnels or computers – means we can identify skills gaps sooner and give industry a heads up so UK businesses are in a better position to compete.”