Summary
- Atos has been awarded a six-year Metropolitan Police Service contract worth up to £350 million.
- Core services include application management, service management and application security.
- The Metropolitan Police can add cloud and digital workplace services and extend the contract by two years.
Atos has secured a six-year technology contract with the Metropolitan Police Service worth up to £350 million, covering the operation, management and security of applications used across the force.
The core agreement includes service management, application management and application security. The Metropolitan Police can also choose to add managed cloud and digital workplace services.
The initial contract runs for six years and can be extended by a further two. The £350 million figure represents the maximum potential value rather than guaranteed spending during the initial term.
Atos says it will manage services and maintain applications across the Metropolitan Police technology estate. Its responsibilities include availability, resilience and performance alongside security of applications, systems, data and users.
Service continuity also forms part of the contract, connecting routine technology operation with the ability to keep applications available when infrastructure fails or services are disrupted.
Application security sits inside the operating contract
The security element is part of a broader managed technology agreement rather than a separate cybersecurity procurement. Atos will be responsible for operating applications as well as carrying out security work around them.
That structure places responsibility for maintenance and security within the same supplier relationship. A weakness identified in an application may require configuration changes, updates or other operational work that falls within the wider service being delivered.
The arrangement also creates a substantial supplier dependency. A contract that can run for eight years places long-term responsibility for important parts of the Metropolitan Police technology estate with one provider, making service performance, continuity and oversight material throughout the relationship.
The Metropolitan Police can widen that responsibility further if it takes up the cloud option. Atos says the additional service would extend its role across cloud operation and application performance.
A separate digital workplace option could add responsibility for user devices and access to workplace tools. Neither optional service is part of the confirmed core scope unless the Metropolitan Police chooses to commission it.
The contract supports one of the UK’s largest police forces, where application availability and protection of information are directly connected with day-to-day operations. Technology failures can interrupt administrative and operational processes even where the incident does not begin as a cyber attack.
Atos describes the award as an expansion of its existing relationship with the Metropolitan Police. The company has not disclosed the individual applications covered by the agreement or the detailed security architecture around them.
Those details would be needed to assess the technical design of the service and should not be inferred from the contract value alone. The public information establishes the commercial scope, the main service responsibilities and the optional areas into which the agreement can expand.
The maximum value and potential duration still make the contract significant. Up to £350 million can be spent over a relationship that covers application operation, service management, security and continuity, with cloud and workplace services available as additional options.
Atos will now deliver the confirmed core services under the six-year agreement. Any expansion into managed cloud or digital workplace services remains a decision for the Metropolitan Police Service.
