Published date: 28 January 2026

Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.


Closing: 24 January 2025, 5pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Software support services - 72261000

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£8,721,260

Procurement reference

tender_439772/1547510

Published date

28 January 2026

Closing date

24 January 2025

Closing time

5pm

Contract start date

23 January 2026

Contract end date

22 January 2030

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

No

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

This notice is for the award of the Level 2 Support contract for Crossing the Border Platform and applications.

Crossing the Border (CtB) is the steady state services and products which control the flow of people and services across the UK border. This is done principally via the Primary Control Points, mediated by a Border Force officer, or via an e-gate indirectly supervised by Border Force officer/s. Information from ports is processed by a central collection of systems, hosted in the cloud and on premise. These systems are built on top of a number of infrastructure platforms, leveraging a hybrid cloud model. The supplier will provide level 2 support to ensure reliance and service of central systems, supporting a 24 hours a day 365 days a year operation, requiring high degrees of resilience and availability. The existing applications run on diverse technological stacks and have been delivered over a 3-year programme and are expected to evolve over the next 5 years in line with government policy and operational need. The system is critical national infrastructure, incorporating official and secret data sets and related processes.

More information

Attachments

Award information

Awarded date

1 August 2025

Contract start date

23 January 2026

Contract end date

22 January 2030

Total value of contract

£8,721,260

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

IBM United Kingdom Limited

Address

IBM Hursley Office Hursley Park Road Winchester Hants SO21 2JN UK

Reference

No reference - other

Supplier is SME?

No

Supplier is VCSE?

No

About the buyer

Address

2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
England

Email

CrossingtheBorder2024Procurement@homeoffice.gov.uk