TL;DR
The Bank of England has increased the value of its Oracle systems integrator contract with Version 1 to £21.5m, up from an initial £7m tender. The uplift follows changes to the project scope and implementation approach as the central bank proceeds with an ongoing Oracle Cloud migration.
What happened
The Bank of England has substantially raised the amount it is paying for Oracle implementation services after several contract uplifts. A procurement notice shows the engagement with Oracle partner Version 1 has grown to £21.5 million; the contract was first tendered at £7 million in 2022, awarded for £8.7 million in 2023 and increased to £13.8 million before the latest rise. Version 1 was retained to assist with technical delivery and change management for the bank’s Oracle Cloud rollout. The most recent amendment to the bank’s Application Management Service contract cited additional works not envisioned during the original procurement. The notice also states that replacing the supplier would be impractical for economic or technical reasons, including interoperability concerns and potential duplication of costs. Separately, the bank awarded Oracle a £13 million deal for technical support for Oracle cloud services.
Why it matters
- Rising supplier costs highlight the financial and programme-management risks of large public-sector cloud migrations.
- Shifts in implementation approach — from a two-phase plan to multiple phased module rollouts — can materially increase project expense and complexity.
- Dependence on a single integrator raises interoperability and vendor-replacement barriers, which can limit procurement options and flexibility.
Key facts
- Version 1 contract value has been increased to £21.5 million.
- Initial tender for the work was set at £7 million in 2022.
- The contract was awarded to Version 1 for £8.7 million in September 2023.
- In February (last year) the contract was previously increased to £13.8 million after changing the implementation methodology.
- The latest amendment cited additional works, services or supplies not included in the original procurement.
- Procurement documentation said switching suppliers could cause interoperability issues and significant duplication of costs.
- The Bank is implementing Oracle Cloud SaaS Fusion Applications for finance, procurement, projects, expenses, EPM and reporting (per a training provider cited in the notices).
- Separately, Oracle was awarded a £13 million contract to provide technical support for Oracle SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.
- A wider framework for services including SAP support had its maximum value raised from £60 million (awarded Sept 2024) to £86.7 million in a later non-competitive increase.
What to watch next
- Whether the Bank will issue further uplifts to the Version 1 contract — not confirmed in the source.
- Timetable for completion of the Oracle Cloud migration and individual module go-lives — not confirmed in the source.
- Measured operational benefits or cost savings once the new Oracle modules are live — not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- Systems integrator: A company that coordinates and combines hardware, software and services so different IT systems work together.
- Oracle Cloud SaaS: Software-as-a-Service offerings from Oracle that deliver business applications over the cloud, such as finance or HR systems.
- PaaS and IaaS: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provides platforms to build and deploy applications; Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) supplies virtualised compute, storage and networking resources.
- Application Management Service: A contract or service model covering ongoing support, maintenance and change control for business applications.
Reader FAQ
How much has the Bank’s Oracle implementation spending increased?
The Version 1 implementation contract has risen to £21.5 million from an initial £7 million tender; earlier stages saw awards at £8.7m and £13.8m.
What is Version 1’s role?
Version 1 was contracted to support technical implementation and change management for the Bank’s Oracle Cloud rollout.
Has the Bank given a timeline for the migration?
Not confirmed in the source.
Why did the contract value increase?
Procurement notices attribute the uplifts to additional works not in the original procurement and a revised implementation approach moving to multiple phased module go-lives.
DATABASES 1 Bank of England's Oracle cloud migration bill triples as project grinds on Initial £7M estimate proves optimistic after multiple contract uplifts Lindsay Clark Fri 9 Jan 2026 // 09:30 UTC The Bank…
Sources
- Bank of England's Oracle cloud migration bill triples as project grinds on
- Bank of England's Oracle partner spend doubles
- As banks' cloud spending surges, financial regulators …
- Bank of England expands data and cloud framework by £ …
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