Oracle has won four contracts with the UK government as part of the Synergy Programme.

The agreements will see the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the Home Office use Oracle Cloud for their shared services platform as part of a ten-year, $1bn contract.

Microsoft has also won a major cloud computing contract with the Crown Commercial Service that will see it expand its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings for the public sector.

Oracle, through the win of the Synergy Programme contract, will be creating a single operating model for the governmental departments with the Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to reduce costs, and standardize finance, supply chain, and HR data for more than 250,000 civil servants.

The program will also use Oracle Fusion Data Intelligence and OCI for analytics capabilities. All of these shared services will run in the Oracle Cloud for UK Government & Defence.

The Synergy Programme aims to "design, develop, and procure new technologies and capabilities" to modernize the four departments' back office systems. The tender for the program was launched in June 2023.

“We are building a common operating model and establishing business processes that will be used collectively across four Departments that employ nearly half of all civil servants in the UK,” said Chris Murtagh, CTO and ERP program director, Synergy Programme. “Oracle Cloud will create a single platform that will expand insights, increase efficiency, and allow us to better meet the needs of citizens.”

“Governmental departments are under ever-increasing pressure to make sure they are working efficiently and cost-effectively,” added Siobhan Wilson, senior vice president and UK country leader, Oracle. “The move to Oracle Cloud will increase efficiency and deliver more value to UK citizens”

Oracle will work with DWP, IBM, and Deloitte on the implementation of the system.

The win comes after Oracle lost a couple of public sector deals to Workday, including the Matrix Programme which brings together nine departments, some of which have already moved to the cloud and others which have yet to do so.

In other UK government contract news, Microsoft has signed a five-year agreement with the UK's Crown Commercial Service which will increase access to more AI products and services.

The agreement goes into effect on November 1, and will help public sector organizations to access Mcirosoft's AI offerings with cost savings.

According to the announcement, the UK government is seeking to "increase the speed of innovation," and the partnership with Microsoft is hoped to deliver "economic growth needed to help fund public services, ease the cost-of-living crisis, and create employment opportunities for all."

Clare Barclay, CEO of Microsoft UK, said: “AI technologies present a unique opportunity to transform public services and fuel the UK’s economic growth.

“This exciting new five-year partnership will mean Microsoft can continue to support the UK Government to create a world-class, digital-first public sector infrastructure, that will improve service delivery for citizens across the whole of the UK and create opportunities for all.”

Roger Gonourie, CCO at CCS added: “This agreement will support eligible public sector organizations to pursue their digital transformation and innovation ambitions, by enabling them to benefit from leveraging the size and scale of the UK public sector. It shows CCS’s continued commitment to providing maximum commercial value for our customers, removing barriers to growth across the public sector. It’s about securing a better future for us all.”