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MoD gets green light to splash £7.8m on Oracle licences

Database goliath reaffirms its stranglehold, despite cost-cutting efforts

The Ministry of Defence was given the green light to splash £7.8m on Oracle licences this year, according to official gov info.

According to the department's ICT exemption data for the first three months of 2015, the deal was given spending approval by the Cabinet Office, which has to rubber stamp all IT spend over £5m.

The note said: "The Organisation Wide Licence enables unlimited access to Oracle Database and Internet Application Servicer licences for the MOD to use. Licences covered by the OWL are also provided... to third parties as part of MOD's contractual obligations."

Earlier this year The Reg reported that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was forking out £1.3m per year for Oracle licences.

Most other big government departments currently operate their Oracle licensing agreement through the Cabinet Office's shared services centre.

But it is unclear how much has been saved through the shared services centres, which were established in 2013. The shared services programme was recently flagged as amber-red by the Major Projects Authority, which means there is a high risk it will fail to deliver.

In August the Cabinet office has signed a 'memorandum of understanding' with Oracle in a desperate bid to ease the financial burden of its eye-wateringly expensive contracts with the database titan.

However, The Register revealed that Whitehall bean counters had ordered government departments to find fresh ways to end their reliance on Oracle. ®

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