Independent market testing confirmed value for money in outsourced police IT — and revealed opportunities for optimisation.

Completed 3 annual Market Tests covering key outsourced IT services.

Used ImprovIT’s MDA methodology to assess value based on price, scope, complexity and service quality.

Confirmed VFM across all services except one, with actionable insights to address gaps and improve performance.
The Requirement:
Devon and Cornwall Police (DCP), which covers the largest geographical police area in England, commissioned three annual Market Tests to assess whether their outsourced IT services, delivered by BT, offered genuine Value for Money (VFM) in terms of charges and service quality.
Our Approach:
ImprovIT defines that VFM is achieved where the charge for the IT services in scope is equal to or below the peer group; and service quality is equal to or higher than the same peers.
We undertook a review of five key service areas (workstation, which changed to service desk in the final year, email, virtual machines, storage and development day rates). This analysis reviewed scope, prices and quality of the services provided, taking into account key factors of service complexity and quality.
The Market Test approach is a shorter version of a traditional VFM benchmark, saving time and cost, while still delivering robust, data-backed findings. ImprovIT utilised its ‘Metrics Driven Analysis’ (MDA) methodology, enabling a granular and holistic view of the services, performance and prices in order to execute the study, which was completed in less than four weeks.
The Outcome:
The results of the market test showed that the overall price and quality of BT’s services compared favourably to its peers. VFM has been consistently achieved for all key services.
Email services were the only exception, with quality issues already under review and improvements underway.
While the VFM confirmation was certainly encouraging, the study also highlighted opportunities for optimisation and service improvement.
Overall it was a very good engagement and ImprovITs’ expertise was felt throughout
Devon and Cornwall Police – Head of ICT
