The Met Police are slashing their internal IT force and contracting out their tech operation to French company Steria. The deal is worth £216m over 10 years…

Techno is all for public bodies saving costs by shopping their IT off to the private sector, but by shackling themselves to a decade long multi-million pound deal the police are flying in the face of the advice given to government departments.

“We need to… give ourselves the option of short, flexible contracts, and make sure that technology choices don’t lock us in as our needs and organisations change.”

Expect any changes to the Steria contract in order to meet chancing police needs to incur hefty costs. Kerching!